2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p Coin

Quick answers

Is the 2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p rare?

No. 39.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 2015 Clark Portrait 50p coins were made?

39,300,000 were struck for circulation.

What is the 2015 Clark Portrait 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 2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p still legal tender?

Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p is legal tender in the UK.

How to recognize it

The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.

The 2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p is seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon), 27.3 mm across and cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel).

2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p by the numbers

Measured by how many were made, the 2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p ranks 19th lowest of 34 50p dates and varieties from 1969 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2004 Britannia 50p (35.3 million); the next more common is the 1976 Britannia 50p (43.7 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1997 Small Britannia 50p with 456.4 million, about 12 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p with 200,000, 197 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 2015 output was 1.2 times fewer than 2014 and 22 times the 2017 figure. Other 2015 regular 50p coins: 2015 Rank-Broadley Portrait Royal Shield 50p (20.1 million).

Over the 2010s the Mint produced 274.8 million regular 50p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p accounts for 14% of that.

What to check on your 2015 Clark Portrait Royal Shield 50p

• Confirm the date and the variety (clark portrait). 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.

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

Other 2015 50p coins