Suffragettes 50p coin: how much is it worth?

WHILE rummaging through your spare change, you may have come across a very detailed 50p coin of a woman holding a banner.

What you have found is the suffragettes 50p which is ranked among some of the UK’s rarest coins.

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The coin was issued in 2003 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

This group, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and other famous suffragettes, who fought for women’s voting rights through civil disobedience and other acts of protests.

This is the first of two coins that celebrate the suffragette movement, with another being minted in 2018 by Dr Helen Pankhurst, Emmeline’s great granddaughter.

It marked 100 years since the Representation of the People Act was passed, which gave women over the age of 30 the right to vote.

But the suffragetts coin, being the older of the two, is rarer and therefore worth more money. 

The coin was designed by Mary Milner Dickens and shows the striking image of a women’s suffragette chained to a fence and holding a banner with the initials of the movement. 

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The reverse of the coin also features a piece of paper with an X that says: “give women the vote,” which represents a voting ballot.

Just below that is stamped “1903”, which is the year of the WSPU’s formation. 

So how rare is the coin, and how much could you make selling it on eBay?

There were just over 3,100,000 suffragette 50p coins, minted according to Change Checker. 

For context there are 200 million 50ps in circulation in total, which means these rare coins make up just a fraction.

This coin is ranked 27 on Change Checkers latest 50p scarcity index with a score of 26, the higher the score the rarer the coin is, which means it is well below average in rarity. 

It is less sought after than other coins such as the rare 2018 Peter Rabbit coin, Flopsy the Bunny coin or the Jemima Puddle-duck 50p coins. 

How much is the Suffragette 50p coin worth? 

This doesn’t mean you can’t make a profit on your 50p, with some keen coin collectors willing to pay more than the face value of the coin. 

If you put your coin up for sale on eBay you may be able to get 10 times the profit on your original investment.

With one eBay seller who put the coin up for £5.99 having sold 82 of them.

Another experienced coin seller, with over 5,000 sales and a 99.9% positive review, has it up for offer at £5.69.

If you are on the hunt for the coin for your own collection, some sellers have it listed for as little as £3.30, but the price can vary depending on the condition on the coin. 

However, when trying to bag yourself some rare coins you should be wary of fakes online.

There is no guarantee an eBay seller’s coins are legitimate, but checking the reviews and sellers ratings can help. 

The rare coin market is constantly fluctuating, so checking in on the value of your coins every now and then means you may be able to make a bit more out of your 50p. 

If you want to check if your coins are real or valuable you can talk to experts at Coin Hunter or the Royal Mint. 

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk