1998 Britannia 50p Coin
The 1998 Britannia 50p is a 50p coin struck for circulation with 64.3 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1998
- Circulation mintage
- 64,306,500
- Value band
- Face value
- 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 1998 Britannia 50p worth?
64.3 million were made, so the 1998 Britannia 50p is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
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 1998 Britannia 50p rare?
- No. 64.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1998 50p coins were made?
- 64,306,500 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1998 Britannia 50p made of?
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 8.0 g and measures 27.3 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.
- Is the 1998 Britannia 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p is legal tender in the UK.
The 1998 50p coin in context
Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen made its first appearance on the 50p in 1998, replacing Raphael Maklouf's after thirteen years. The Royal Mint struck 64,306,500 Britannia 50ps for circulation, a solid figure after the huge small 1997 run. This was the first full year of the small 50p as the only legal size, since the large coin stopped being legal tender at the end of February 1998. Every 50p in change was now the smaller size, so demand for new coins stayed strong.
The year was also busy with commemoratives. The Royal Mint issued two special 50ps in 1998: one for the UK presidency of the European Union and one for the 50th anniversary of the National Health Service. Both have their own pages. They marked the start of a decade in which commemorative 50ps appeared most years, often sharing circulation with the regular Britannia. The 1998 figure is the largest regular 50p of the Rank-Broadley Britannia years apart from 2001. It is a big number by the standards of the next few years.
How to recognize it
Rank-Broadley's portrait shows an older Queen in a tiara, with the initials IRB beneath the bust. It is the third portrait to appear on the 50p and stayed until 2015. The reverse is unchanged: Ironside's Britannia, seated beside her lion with her trident, olive branch and Union Flag shield, under FIFTY PENCE with the numeral 50 below. The coin is cupronickel, 27.3 mm across and 8 g with seven curved sides. Check the portrait to separate a 1998 from a 1997. The new portrait shows the Queen in her seventies, closer to her real age at the time than the earlier coin images had been.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
1998 Britannia 50p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 1998 Britannia 50p ranks 27th lowest of 34 50p dates and varieties from 1969 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1983 Britannia 50p (62.8 million); the next more common is the 1978 Britannia 50p (72 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1997 Small Britannia 50p with 456.4 million, about 7.1 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p with 200,000, 322 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1998 output was 7.1 times fewer than 1997 and 2.6 times the 1999 figure.
Over the 1990s the Mint produced 545.6 million regular 50p coins across 10 dates and varieties; the 1998 Britannia 50p accounts for 12% of that.
What to check on your 1998 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 27.3 mm coin introduced in 1997, which weighs 8.0 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.
A 1998 Britannia 50p is common and a face value coin in circulated condition. It earns its place in a collection as the first Rank-Broadley 50p, a useful marker coin in a date run. Look for sharp detail on Britannia's helmet and the lion's head. Uncirculated examples from Royal Mint sets are bright and draw only a small premium. Do not confuse it with the 1998 commemoratives, which have their own designs. If you are building a run of small 50ps, 1998 is an easy date to fill.
Small Britannia 50p with the Rank-Broadley portrait (1998 to 2007)
Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait replaced Maklouf's in 1998, showing the Queen in a tiara with the initials IRB beneath the bust. It became the third portrait to appear on the 50p and sits on every coin of this era. The coin itself was the small 50p introduced in September 1997: cupronickel, 27.3 mm across, 8 g and seven-sided, with Christopher Ironside's seated Britannia and FIFTY PENCE on the reverse. All of these coins are still legal tender, so they remain in everyday use.
This was also the decade when commemorative 50ps became a regular sight. The Royal Mint used the denomination to mark the NHS, public libraries, the suffragettes, the four-minute mile, Johnson's dictionary, the Victoria Cross and the centenary of Scouting. Those designs took some of the demand for new 50ps, which helps explain why the Britannia figures stay modest after 1998. Most years landed somewhere between 23 and 36 million, with 1998 and 2001 well above that and 2007 the lowest of the era.
For anyone sorting change, these are the Britannia coins most likely to turn up. Worn examples are face value. Wear shows first on Britannia's knee, her helmet and the lion's head, so those spots tell you quickly whether a coin spent years in pockets. The low 2007 date and the final Britannia dated 2008 are the ones to keep an eye on, since the old design was about to disappear. Bright coins with full luster usually come from Royal Mint annual sets rather than from the bank.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1998 |
| Circulation mintage | 64,306,500 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 8.0 g |
| Diameter | 27.3 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Frequently asked questions
Which portrait is on the 1998 50p?
Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait, showing the Queen in a tiara with the initials IRB below. It was new in 1998, when it replaced Raphael Maklouf's portrait. It appeared on 50ps until 2015. Look for the IRB initials.
How many 1998 Britannia 50ps were made?
The Royal Mint struck 64,306,500 for circulation. It is a common date. Two commemorative 50ps dated 1998, for the NHS and the European Union presidency, are separate coins with different reverses.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.