1988 20p Coin

Quick answers

Is the 1988 20p rare?

No. 38 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 1988 20p coins were made?

38,038,344 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1988 20p made of?

Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel). It weighs 5.0 g and measures 21.4 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.

Is the 1988 20p still legal tender?

Yes. Every 20p, including the undated 2008 coin, is legal tender in the UK.

How to recognize it

The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.

The 1988 20p is seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon), 21.4 mm across and cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel).

1988 20p by the numbers

In mintage terms the 1988 20p ranks 7th lowest of 41 20p dates and varieties from 1982 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1991 20p (35.9 million); the next more common is the 2022 20p (42.9 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1982 20p with 740.8 million, about 19 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 20p with 525,000, 72 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1988 output was 3.6 times fewer than 1987 and 3.5 times fewer than 1989.

Over the 1980s the Mint produced 1.35 billion 20p coins across 8 dates and varieties; the 1988 20p accounts for 2.8% of that.

What to check on your 1988 20p

• Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
• Count the sides: a genuine 20p has seven curved sides, measures 21.4 mm and weighs 5 g.
• Look at the surfaces under a light. Coins from sets have unbroken luster and color; change-worn coins are dull and scuffed.
• Never clean it. Rubbing or dipping strips the original color and leaves fine scratches.

The crowned rose with the Machin and Maklouf portraits (1982 to 1997)

The 20p was launched on 9 June 1982 to sit between the 10p and the 50p. Rising prices had left people paying for everyday things in fistfuls of 10p pieces and a coin worth two of them was the obvious fix. It also arrived in the year British coins stopped saying NEW, so it read TWENTY PENCE from the very first strike. William Gardner's reverse put a crowned double rose at the center, the Tudor emblem uniting Lancaster and York, with the figure 20 and the year on the same face.

Two portraits of the Queen cover these years. Arnold Machin's version, with the Queen in a tiara, was used for just three dates, 1982 to 1984. From 1985 Raphael Maklouf's portrait took over, showing her in the George IV State Diadem with RDM below the neck. Output swung wildly. The launch needed 740,815,000 coins, then the figure fell to 158,463,000 in 1983 and 65,350,965 in 1984. None at all were made for change in 1986. After that, big years such as 1987 and 1989 alternated with lean ones. 1991 and 1992 both came in below 36 million before a rebound to 123,123,750 in 1993.

Physically the coin never changed: seven curved sides of constant width, 21.4 mm, 5 g of cupronickel that is 84% copper and 16% nickel with a plain edge. The dates that reward a search are the sets-only 1986 plus the low runs of 1988, 1991 and 1992. A 1984 Machin coin next to a 1985 Maklouf one makes a neat pair showing the portrait change. On worn coins the rose petals and the arches of the crown go first, so judge condition there. Set coins are the easy way to own these dates unworn.

Mintage chart

Specifications