1985 Britannia 50p Coin
The 1985 Britannia 50p is a 50p coin struck for circulation with 682,103 made. Value band: small premium. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1985
- Circulation mintage
- 682,103
- Value band
- Small premium
- Composition
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel)
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 1985 Britannia 50p worth?
At 682,103, the 1985 Britannia 50p has a smaller run than most 50p coins, so collectors pay a small premium for it, especially in uncirculated condition. Well circulated examples sit close to face value.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with no scratches
- A sets-only date or a low circulation year
- A genuine mint error
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1985 Britannia 50p rare?
- It is scarcer than most 50p coins. Collectors pay a small premium for good examples.
- How many 1985 50p coins were made?
- 682,103 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1985 Britannia 50p made of?
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 13.5 g and measures 30 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.
- Is the 1985 Britannia 50p still legal tender?
- No. The original 30 mm 50p stopped being legal tender in 1998, after the smaller coin arrived in 1997.
The 1985 50p coin in context
The 1985 50p is the scarcest large Britannia made for circulation. Only 682,103 were struck, a tiny figure next to the tens of millions of earlier years. It was also the first year of Raphael Maklouf's new portrait of the Queen, which replaced Arnold Machin's on every British coin that year. Banks were still holding vast stocks of older 50ps, so the Royal Mint needed only a token number for change.
What makes the date stand out is that it was the only Maklouf large 50p ever made for circulation. From 1986 to 1993, then 1995, 1996 and the large 1997, every Britannia 50p was struck only for collector sets. The year 1994 went to the D-Day commemorative. Until the small coin of 1997, the 1985 coins were the only Maklouf Britannia 50ps ever paid out by banks. With so few made, many people handling large 50ps in the late 1980s and 1990s would never have seen one. Those who did get one would not have noticed anything special, since the date was the only difference.
How to recognize it
Maklouf's portrait shows the Queen wearing the George IV State Diadem, with his initials RDM below the neck. It is a more formal, mature image than Machin's. The reverse is Ironside's Britannia, seated with her lion, trident and olive branch and her Union Flag shield, under FIFTY PENCE with the numeral 50 below. Size and metal match the earlier large coins: 30 mm of cupronickel weighing 13.5 g. If you have a large 50p with the diadem portrait, check the date: only 1985 came from banks. The new portrait went onto every denomination that year, so a 1985 penny or 10p shows the same image.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1985 Britannia 50p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1985 Britannia 50p ranks 2nd lowest of 34 50p dates and varieties from 1969 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p (200,000); the next more common is the 2017 Royal Shield 50p (1.8 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1997 Small Britannia 50p with 456.4 million, about 669 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p with 200,000, 3.4 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1985 output was 92 times fewer than 1983 and 669 times fewer than 1997.
Over the 1980s the Mint produced 277.9 million regular 50p coins across 10 dates and varieties; the 1985 Britannia 50p accounts for 0.2% of that.
What to check on your 1985 Britannia 50p
- Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Check the size: this date is the original 30 mm coin, which weighs 13.5 g, with seven curved sides.
- 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.
This is the date to hunt among large 50ps. Worn examples carry a small premium and a sharp, lustrous coin draws a collector premium, since most of the small mintage circulated for over a decade. Watch for heavy scratches and rim knocks, which are common on large coins. Coins from 1985 collector sets also exist. These are usually brighter, so a set coin removed from its packaging can look better than one from change. Cleaning will ruin the appeal of a good one, so leave the surface alone.
Maklouf portrait and the end of the large 50p (1985 to 1997)
Raphael Maklouf's portrait arrived on all British coins in 1985, showing the Queen wearing the George IV State Diadem, with his initials RDM under the bust. The reverse stayed the same: Ironside's seated Britannia with FIFTY PENCE above and the numeral 50 below, on the same 30 mm, 13.5 g cupronickel coin. What changed was demand. The country already held enormous numbers of large 50ps from the 1970s and early 1980s, so the Royal Mint struck very few new ones for change in these years.
In fact 1985 is the only date of this era with large 50ps made for circulation. Only 682,103 were struck. Every other large date from 1986 to 1993, plus 1995, 1996 and the large 1997, came only in collector sets. The year 1994 went to the D-Day commemorative design instead. The large coin had long drawn complaints for being heavy and bulky. In September 1997 the Royal Mint replaced it with a smaller version, 27.3 mm across and 8 g, with the same seven sides and the same Britannia. A huge run of the small coin replaced the old ones in a matter of months.
The large 50p ceased to be legal tender at the end of February 1998, so Maklouf large coins can only be kept, not spent. Small 1997 coins are still legal tender and turn up in change today. Measure before you do anything else: 30 mm means a large coin, 27.3 mm a small one. Large Maklouf coins found loose in old jars almost always started life in a broken set, since so few of them were ever paid out by banks.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1985 |
| Circulation mintage | 682,103 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 13.5 g |
| Diameter | 30 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Frequently asked questions
How many 1985 50p coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 682,103 large 1985 50ps for circulation. That is the lowest figure for any large Britannia made for change and the only circulation date with Raphael Maklouf's portrait on the large coin.
Can a 1985 50p still be spent?
No. It is the old 30 mm size, which stopped being legal tender at the end of February 1998. Its interest now is purely to collectors. The low mintage means it is the large 50p worth keeping.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.