2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p
The 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p is a circulating 50p with 25 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2017
- Circulation mintage
- 25,000,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Emma Noble
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 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p worth?
25 million were made, so the 2017 Benjamin Bunny 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 or contact marks
- Original Royal Mint pack or presentation folder
- A genuine mint error, confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p rare?
- No. 25 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p coins were made?
- 25,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p?
- The design is credited to Emma Noble.
- What is the 2017 Benjamin Bunny 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 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p was made
Benjamin Bunny is Peter Rabbit's cousin, the cheerful young rabbit who talks Peter into sneaking back into Mr. McGregor's garden to rescue the jacket and shoes he lost there. Beatrix Potter gave him a book of his own, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, in 1904. He turns up again in later stories as a grown rabbit married to Peter's sister Flopsy, which makes him one of the few Potter characters you can watch grow up across her books.
The Royal Mint started its Beatrix Potter 50p series in 2016 to mark 150 years since the author was born in London. It proved popular enough to carry on in 2017 with four more characters: Peter Rabbit, Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Tom Kitten and Benjamin Bunny. Benjamin was the last of the four to go on sale to collectors in September 2017 and had a circulation mintage of 25 million, the biggest figure of any coin in the series. That was good news for children hunting through their pocket money, because it put a Beatrix Potter coin within easy reach of anyone who checked their change. It is often the first character coin people find when they start looking at their 50ps more closely.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows Benjamin Bunny in a pose adapted from Potter's own illustrations, with his name, BENJAMIN BUNNY, lettered on the coin so there is no guessing which rabbit you have. That matters, because Peter Rabbit appears on several 50ps and the two cousins look alike at a glance. Benjamin has only this one circulating coin, dated 2017. The design was adapted by Emma Noble of the Royal Mint, who handled the whole Beatrix Potter run. Turn the coin over and you will find Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the fifth portrait used on her coins. Like every 50p since 1997 it is the smaller seven-sided cupronickel coin, 27.3 mm across, with a plain edge.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p ranks 75th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2017 Peter Rabbit 50p (19.9 million); the next more common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p (89.8 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 3.6 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 229 times fewer than this one.
It shared 2017 with 4 other circulating 50p designs: the Isaac Newton (1.8 million), the Tom Kitten (9.5 million), the Mr Jeremy Fisher (9.9 million) and the Peter Rabbit (19.9 million). The 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p was the most plentiful of the year.
Within the circulating Beatrix Potter 50p coins, it ranks 13th scarcest, behind the Flopsy Bunny, Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tittlemouse and others.
What to check on your 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Benjamin Bunny described above and carry the date 2017; similar designs from other years are a common mix-up.
- Weigh it if you can: a genuine 27.3 mm 50p weighs 8.0 g. Copies are often light, slightly soft in detail or the wrong color.
- Ignore painted or colored versions sold online as special editions. Color added after the coin left the Mint does not make it a Royal Mint issue and does not add collector value.
- Look at the surfaces under a bright light. Coins straight from a pack have unbroken luster; change-worn coins show scuffs on the high points of the portrait and design.
With 25 million struck, this is one of the most common commemorative 50ps of the last decade, so a circulated example is a face value coin. That is no reason to spend it if you are building the set, since every collection of the 2017 characters needs one. Condition decides any interest beyond face: a crisp coin with no scratches across Benjamin's fur is far more appealing than a worn one. The Royal Mint also sold this design in brilliant uncirculated packs. Pack coins have flawless, mirror-bright fields and sharp detail, while coins from change show rubbing on the high points and small knocks from tills and pockets.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2017 |
| Circulation mintage | 25,000,000 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 8.0 g |
| Diameter | 27.3 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Emma Noble |
| Portrait | Clark |
Other 2017 50p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Peter Rabbit 50p | 19,900,000 | Face value |
| 2017 Mr Jeremy Fisher 50p | 9,900,000 | Face value |
| 2017 Tom Kitten 50p | 9,500,000 | Face value |
| 2017 Isaac Newton 50p | 1,801,500 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Is the Benjamin Bunny 50p rare?
Not at all. Benjamin Bunny had the largest circulation mintage of any Beatrix Potter 50p, with 25 million struck in 2017. Plenty are still in change, so a circulated one is a face value coin, though a sharp, unmarked example is nicer for a set.
When did the Benjamin Bunny 50p come out?
Collector packs went on sale in September 2017, the last of four Beatrix Potter characters on 50ps that year, alongside Peter Rabbit, Mr. Jeremy Fisher and Tom Kitten. The Royal Mint then added four more characters to the series in 2018, all struck in smaller numbers.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.