SCIENCE fans and coin hunters alike marvel at the Sir Isaac Newton 50p, but the coin has a fascinating and quirky mintage history that’s rocketed its worth.
The Sir Isaac Newton 50p was first issued in 2017 to mark the 375th anniversary of the famous scientist’s birth.
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But other 2018 versions came to be too, when the minting power was handed over to the public.
The catch with this coin for some time, was that the only place you were officially able to get it was at The Royal Mint Experience where you’d get to strike your own.
That’s in Llantrisant, Wales though – which is some trek for most of the country.
But lucky for those who didn’t fancy travelling so far for a new coin, copies quickly popped up on eBay over time as collectors traded and sold their own versions.
The coin passes as legal tender too so now that a few years have passed, it would be easy for one to pop up in your own change.
We explore the science behind what makes it so rare, and just how valuable it could be.
RARE COINS AND VALUABLE NOTES
How rare is the Isaac Newton coin?
The total mintage for the 2017 edition of the 50p coin is confirmed to be 1,801,500.
That gives the coin a score of 37 on Change Checker’s latest scarcity index update, as it comes in 23rd place.
The scarcity index ranks each of the coins between one and 100 to indicate how hard they are to find, as well as how in demand they may be.
The higher the number, the rarer the coin and therefore it’s more likely to be more valuable than others.
Though this one is still very rare, its quirkier counterpart that you could pick up for yourself at the museum was not so widely spread either – and if anything it was rarer.
The 2018 Isaac Newton coins were not released into circulation by The Royal Mint, so it’s actually very unlikely you will find one of these simply in your change.
Change Checker had predicted at the time that the limited run could well have been substantially less than 210,000, which is even less that the reigning rarest 50p right now.
We don’t know exactly how many made their way home to avid coin collections across the country though.
How much is the Isaac Newton 50p worth?
The 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p, the “strike your own” approach means most people will have bought and sold any copies they come across now on eBay.
Change Checker revealed the coin could be worth as much as £46 in its latest eBay Tracker index.
We took a look on the online auction platform too, and found copies had recently sold for as much as £43 – over 86 times the face value of a regular 50p.
One seller who claimed they had a copy of both the 2017 and 2018 coins sold them together for £36 too.
How do other coins in my change fare?
You might have an easier time spotting other rare coins or coming across them in your own change, especially if didn’t ever require visiting a museum to snap up in the first place.
But any commemorative coin is going to be worth a pretty penny to a collector.
If they boast a low mintage figure then collectors are always more keen.
A good example of that is the ever-popular Kew Gardens 50p.
It’s one of the most valuable coins to collect, often selling for thousands more than its face value of 50p – as some bids reach over £300 or more.
If you spot a coin that looks a little different to the everyday, you should check it out against other listings on eBay to see how much you could get.
But beware of fakes – and keep in mind that on eBay a buyer could pull out, which means the coin won’t have sold for the price it says it has.
You can check your change with experts like Coin Hunter or The Royal Mint though – they’ll tell you if something’s the real deal or not and how much you would actually get for your find.
Rare coins and valuable notes – is yours worth a mint?
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