Britannia 50p (1969 to 2008)
The Britannia 50p is the everyday 50p reverse from 1969 to 2008. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1969 to 2008
- Circulation mintage
- 1,515,662,607
- 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 Britannia 50p worth?
The everyday Britannia 50p is worth face value in circulated condition. The exceptions are the dates struck only for collector sets (1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996), which were never issued to banks and turn up in change only when someone spends a set coin.
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 Britannia 50p rare?
- No. 1.52 billion were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many Britannia 50p coins were made?
- 1,515,662,607 were struck for circulation.
- What is the Britannia 50p made of?
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 13.5 g (1969 to 1997), 8.0 g (from 1997) and measures 30 mm (1969 to 1997), 27.3 mm (from 1997), with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.
- Is the Britannia 50p still legal tender?
- The small 27.3 mm Britannia 50p (from 1997) is legal tender. The large 30 mm version stopped being legal tender in 1998.
The story of the Britannia 50p
The 50p arrived in October 1969, a year after the decimal 5p and 10p and well over a year before Britain switched to decimal currency on 15 February 1971. It replaced the ten shilling note, which wore out quickly in use. Its shape was something new: a seven-sided coin with curved sides, designed so that it has the same width wherever you measure it and still rolls smoothly through machines. The reverse, by Christopher Ironside, showed Britannia, the figure who had appeared on British coins for centuries.
For its first years the coin read NEW PENCE, the wording used on all early decimal coins. In 1982 the Royal Mint dropped the word NEW and the 50p began reading FIFTY PENCE instead. The Queen's portrait changed three times during the design's run, with Arnold Machin's portrait until 1984, Raphael Maklouf's from 1985 and Ian Rank-Broadley's from 1998. Commemorative designs also took Britannia's place on the 50p in some years, starting with the 1973 coin for joining the European Economic Community, which explains some of the gaps in the circulation figures.
The biggest change came in September 1997, when the Royal Mint introduced a smaller 50p. The original coin was 30 mm across and weighed 13.5 g, which many people found heavy and bulky. The new one was 27.3 mm and 8 g. It kept the seven sides. The old size stopped being legal tender at the end of February 1998. Ironside's Britannia carried on unchanged on the smaller coin until 2008, when Matthew Dent's Royal Shield designs replaced the whole set of reverses. Britannia's disappearance from circulating coins upset plenty of people at the time, since she had been a fixture of British coinage for so long.
How to recognize it
Ironside's Britannia is seated beside a lion, holding an olive branch in one hand and a trident in the other, with a shield bearing the Union Flag resting against her. The large numerals 50 sit below the figure. To identify the period, check the wording: NEW PENCE coins date from 1969 to 1981, while FIFTY PENCE coins date from 1982 onward. Size tells you the rest. A 30 mm coin is from 1969 to 1997 and is no longer legal tender; a 27.3 mm coin is from 1997 to 2008 and can still be spent. The portrait on the obverse narrows the date further, from Machin through Maklouf to Rank-Broadley.
Over the run the other side carried the portraits of the monarch by Arnold Machin, Raphael Maklouf and Ian Rank-Broadley, so the date and portrait together tell you which year you have.
Britannia 50p by the numbers
Across 23 circulation dates the Royal Mint struck 1.52 billion Britannia 50p coins. The biggest year was 1997 with 456.4 million; the smallest circulation year was 1985 with 682,103, about 669 times fewer.
15 dates were struck only for collector sets: 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996. Those are the dates to look for in change, because every one found there was spent from a set.
What to check on your Britannia 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Britannia described above; similar designs from other years are a common mix-up.
- Weigh it if you can: a genuine large Britannia 50p (30 mm, 1969 to 1997) weighs 13.5 g and a small one (27.3 mm, from 1997) 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 design.
Most Britannia 50ps are common, but the years data shows some gaps worth knowing. No coins were struck for circulation in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 or 1984, nor from 1986 to 1993 or 1995 to 1997 at the large size, so those dates come only from collector sets. The 1985 coin, with only 682,103 made for circulation, is the scarcest large coin found in change and can bring a small premium. Among small coins, 2008 had just 3,500,000 and 2007 had 11,200,000. Large coins can no longer be spent, so their interest is purely as collectibles.
Britannia 50p mintage by year
| Year | Circulation mintage | Portrait | Diameter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 188,400,000 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1970 | 19,461,500 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1971 | Sets only | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1972 | Sets only | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1974 | Sets only | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1975 | Sets only | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1976 | 43,746,500 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1977 | 49,536,000 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1978 | 72,005,500 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1979 | 58,680,000 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1980 | 89,086,000 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1981 | 74,002,000 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1982 | 51,312,000 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1983 | 62,824,904 | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1984 | Sets only | Machin | 30 mm |
| 1985 | 682,103 | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1986 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1987 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1988 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1989 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1990 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1991 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1992 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1993 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1995 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1996 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1997 | Sets only | Maklouf | 30 mm |
| 1997 | 456,364,100 | Maklouf | 27.3 mm |
| 1998 | 64,306,500 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 1999 | 24,905,000 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2000 | 27,915,500 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2001 | 84,998,500 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2002 | 23,907,500 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2003 | 23,583,000 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2004 | 35,315,500 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2005 | 25,363,500 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2006 | 24,567,000 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2007 | 11,200,000 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
| 2008 | 3,500,000 | Rank-Broadley | 27.3 mm |
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1969 to 2008 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,515,662,607 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 13.5 g (1969 to 1997), 8.0 g (from 1997) |
| Diameter | 30 mm (1969 to 1997), 27.3 mm (from 1997) |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Machin |
Frequently asked questions
Which Britannia 50p is the rarest?
Among circulation strikes, the 1985 large 50p is the scarcest, with 682,103 made. Several years, including 1972, 1984 and 1986 to 1993, were struck only for collector sets, so those dates do not normally turn up in change.
Is the old large 50p still legal tender?
It is not. The 30 mm 50p used from 1969 stopped being legal tender at the end of February 1998, after the smaller 27.3 mm coin arrived in September 1997. The smaller Britannia 50p, dated 1997 to 2008, remains legal tender.
When did the 50p change from NEW PENCE to FIFTY PENCE?
In 1982. Coins dated 1969 to 1981 read NEW PENCE, the wording used on early decimal coins. From 1982 the Royal Mint dropped the word NEW, so the 50p reads FIFTY PENCE on every Britannia coin from then until 2008.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.