2008 Royal Shield 50p Coin
The 2008 Royal Shield 50p is a 50p coin struck for circulation with 22.7 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2008
- Circulation mintage
- 22,747,000
- 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 2008 Royal Shield 50p worth?
22.7 million were made, so the 2008 Royal Shield 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 2008 Royal Shield 50p rare?
- No. 22.7 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2008 Royal Shield 50p coins were made?
- 22,747,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2008 Royal Shield 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 2008 Royal Shield 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p is legal tender in the UK.
The 2008 50p coin in context
The Royal Shield 50p arrived in 2008, the result of an open competition the Royal Mint held to redesign the reverses of every coin from 1p to the pound. The winning entry came from Matthew Dent, a young graphic designer from Wales. His idea was a puzzle: each coin from 1p to 50p shows one section of the shield from the Royal Arms, so the six coins together form the complete shield. The pound coin shows the whole shield on its own. The competition drew thousands of entries from the public.
The Royal Mint struck 22,747,000 Royal Shield 50ps dated 2008, far more than the final Britannia batch of the same year. It was the first time the 50p carried heraldry instead of a figure on its regular reverse. Not everyone was pleased. Britannia had been a fixture since 1969 and her removal drew complaints. Still, the shield puzzle quickly caught on with children and collectors, who set the coins side by side to see the pieces fit together. It went on to be the regular 50p for the rest of the Queen's reign.
How to recognize it
Dent's reverse shows a section of the shield from the Royal Arms, cropped tightly against the edge so it lines up with the neighboring coins. The value appears as FIFTY PENCE in words, with no numeral. Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen in a tiara is on the obverse with the date. The coin keeps the familiar small format: cupronickel, 27.3 mm across, 8 g and seven-sided. If you have a 2008 50p, the reverse tells you at once whether it is a Britannia or a shield coin. Seen alone, the 50p can look like a fragment, which it is: the design only makes full sense alongside the other coins.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2008 Royal Shield 50p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2008 Royal Shield 50p ranks 10th lowest of 34 50p dates and varieties from 1969 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2015 Rank-Broadley Portrait Royal Shield 50p (20.1 million); the next more common is the 2003 Britannia 50p (23.6 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1997 Small Britannia 50p with 456.4 million, about 20 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p with 200,000, 114 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 2008 output was 2 times the 2007 figure and 1.4 times fewer than 2012. Other 2008 regular 50p coins: 2008 Britannia 50p (3.5 million).
Over the 2000s the Mint produced 283.1 million regular 50p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2008 Royal Shield 50p accounts for 8.0% of that.
What to check on your 2008 Royal Shield 50p
- Confirm the date and the variety (royal shield). 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 2008 Royal Shield 50p is common and a face value coin in circulation. It earns a place in a collection as the first date of the design. Many were saved by people completing the shield puzzle, so uncirculated examples are easy to find, especially in Royal Mint sets. Pair it with a 2008 Britannia to show both sides of the changeover. For the puzzle, any date will do, but a first-year coin is the natural choice. Check for the IRB initials below the bust.
Royal Shield 50p (2008 to 2022)
Britannia's last batch of 50ps was dated 2008. Later that year Matthew Dent's Royal Shield took over, the winning entry in an open Royal Mint competition to redesign every coin from 1p to the pound. Each coin from 1p to 50p carries one section of the shield from the Royal Arms, so placing the six together rebuilds the full shield, while the pound coin shows it whole. The 50p keeps the 27.3 mm, 8 g cupronickel blank of 1997. It reads FIFTY PENCE in words, with no numeral.
Two portraits appear in this era. Ian Rank-Broadley's runs until 2015, when Jody Clark's portrait, the fifth of the reign, took over, so 2015 exists with both. Output swung wildly. Commemorative 50ps took over the circulation role in many years, from Kew Gardens and the 2011 Olympic sports designs to Beatrix Potter's characters, which left no Royal Shield 50ps made for change in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018 or 2021. Those dates come only from collector sets.
The years that were issued vary from just 1,800,000 in 2017 to 122,000,000 in 2019. Card payments grew quickly through these years and banks returned plenty of used coins, so new orders often stayed small. Every Royal Shield 50p is legal tender. When sorting, check the date first and then the portrait: a sets-only date in your change came from a broken set, while a 2017 or 2022 is worth putting aside. Most others are face value coins.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2008 |
| Circulation mintage | 22,747,000 |
| 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 |
Other 2008 50p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 Britannia 50p Coin | 3,500,000 | Small premium |
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Royal Shield 50p?
Matthew Dent, who won the Royal Mint's open competition to redesign the everyday coins. His six coins from 1p to 50p each show part of the shield from the Royal Arms, which the pound coin shows whole.
Is the 2008 Royal Shield 50p rare?
No. The Royal Mint struck 22,747,000 for circulation, many times the 3,500,000 final Britannia coins of the same year. It is a face value coin, though a nice first-year piece for a collection.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.