Queuing 10p (Letter Q)
The Queuing 10p (Letter Q) is a circulating A to Z 10p with 303,000 made. Value band: small premium. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2018
- Circulation mintage
- 303,000
- Value band
- Small premium
- Composition
- Nickel-plated steel
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a Queuing 10p (Letter Q) worth?
The A to Z 10p coins were made in small runs for circulation (220,000 dated 2018 and 83,000 dated 2019 for this letter). They were made to be collected. A circulated Queuing 10p brings a small premium to collectors filling a set, more for the scarcer 2019 date and more again in uncirculated condition.
What would make yours worth more:
- The scarcer 2019 date
- Uncirculated condition
- An original collector card or pack
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the Queuing 10p (Letter Q) rare?
- It is scarcer than most A to Z 10p coins. Collectors pay a small premium for good examples.
- How many Queuing 10p (Letter Q) coins were made?
- 303,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the Queuing 10p (Letter Q) made of?
- Nickel-plated steel. It weighs 6.5 g and measures 24.5 mm.
- Is the Queuing 10p (Letter Q) still legal tender?
- Yes. Every A to Z 10p is legal tender in the UK at face value.
Why the Queuing 10p (Letter Q) was made
Britain has a reputation for forming an orderly line and waiting patiently and plenty of British people are quietly proud of it. Pushing in is frowned upon, sighing loudly is allowed and complaining is best done under your breath to the person next to you. The habit is often linked to the Second World War, when rationing meant people lined up for food and fuel, though lines for buses, shops and tickets were well established long before that. The word itself comes from French, where queue means tail.
The habit turns up everywhere, from bus stops and post offices to the summer sales and the famous queue for tickets at Wimbledon. Visitors from abroad often comment on it with amusement. The Royal Mint gave Q to Queuing in its 2018 A to Z 10p series, a gentle joke about national character in a set mostly filled with buildings, food and famous names. Q is one of the trickiest letters for any themed alphabet. Queuing was a clever answer that many people found genuinely funny and it is one of the designs most often mentioned when people describe the series.
How to recognize it
The Q coin plays on the idea of an orderly queue, with the letter Q as the anchor of the design. It is an ordinary 10p in specification: nickel-plated steel, 24.5 mm, 6.5 g and a milled edge. The obverse features Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the date. Queuing was issued in 2018 and 2019 with the same reverse, so the date is how you separate them. A 2019 date is the one to look for, since its mintage is slightly lower than most letters in that year. Handle it by the edges to avoid adding fingerprints.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
Queuing 10p (Letter Q) by the numbers
By the numbers, the Queuing 10p (Letter Q) ranks 5th lowest of 26 circulating A to Z 10p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the Robin 10p (Letter R) (284,000); the next more common is the Angel of the North 10p (Letter A) (304,000).
It was the only circulating commemorative A to Z 10p dated 2018.
Of the 303,000 Queuing 10p coins, 220,000 are dated 2018 and 83,000 are dated 2019. About 2.7 coins were dated 2018 for every one dated 2019, which makes 2019 the date to look for. This letter is also one of the five whose 2019 run was cut below 84,000.
What to check on your Queuing 10p (Letter Q)
- Confirm the letter and picture: Q for Queuing, with the date 2018 or 2019.
- Check the date. The 2019 coins had much smaller runs, so the same letter is scarcer with a 2019 date.
- Look at the surfaces under a light: coins from collector packs have unbroken luster, while change-worn coins show scuffs on the letter and design.
- Keep sets in order in a holder rather than loose; scratches on the large flat letter are easy to see.
Queuing has a 2018 mintage of 220,000, matching the rest of the alphabet, but its 2019 figure is 83,000, one thousand fewer than the standard 84,000. The difference is small. Even so, it makes the 2019 Q one of the lower mintage coins of that year, with only R, W, Y and Z made in smaller numbers. The 2019 coins were scarce from the start, since fewer were struck and collectors were already hunting. A crisp 2019 Q is a good find and can earn a small premium.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 10 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2018 |
| Circulation mintage | 303,000 |
| Composition | Nickel-plated steel |
| Weight | 6.5 g |
| Diameter | 24.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Portrait | Clark |
Other 2018 A to Z 10p coins
Frequently asked questions
Why is the 2019 Queuing 10p mintage different?
The Royal Mint struck 83,000 Queuing 10p coins dated 2019, compared with 84,000 for most letters that year. The 2018 figure was 220,000, the same as every other letter. The gap is small but makes Q slightly scarcer.
What is the Q 10p coin?
It is the Queuing design from the Royal Mint's 2018 A to Z 10p series, celebrating the British habit of waiting patiently in line. It was issued again dated 2019 with a much lower mintage.
Mintage figures: Ten pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.