2009 Blue Peter Olympic 50p

[shaneleeds]

There’s been much hype over the last two years about the Kew Gardens 50p coin. The hype has been around the low mintage figure of 210,000. The coins are being snapped up on auction sites for anything up to £50.00. However, no hype has yet hit about the 2009 Athletic Olympic 50p coin issued with the design won by a Blue Peter competition entry. This coin, dated 2009, has a very low mintage figure of 100,000 according to Coin Yearbook (2015). This 2009 Olympic coin is by far rarer than Kew – so where’s the hype? I’ve bought 20 of these coins in readiness of the media splash but as yet, nothing. Am I missing something or is a mintage of 210,000 rarer than a mintage of 100,000?

[copper123]

yep i noticed that as well - but i only got one

[copper123]

There are in fact lots more kew gardens coins than the 2009 blue peter coin , because there were all the coins in the year sets , baby sets and proof sets that were not included i would think that adds up to another 100, 000 at least

[Rob]

Get a job with the Daily Mail, then you can write an article on the mega-rare 2009 50p. Sell your 20 coins at the top of the market while the public indulge in their obigatory feeding frenzy and buy up all those mint error £2 coins where the Queen has a necklace, or the 20p where she forgot to blow her nose and start all over again. You can guarantee the British public will have forgotten about the previous hypes and will jump on the bandwagon again.

There is probably a full time job to be had for someone servicing this market.

[azda]

The 1992 EU presidency 50p is also a lower mintage than Kew gardens

[just.me]

Maybe there is less hype than the Kew gardens because it was never actually released into circulation with that date, only on the collectors card. Therefore type collectors could get a 2011 version (mintage 2.2M) easier and cheaper, designer collectors could get a 2011 easier and cheaper. All the check your change collectors filling the Royal Mint folders only need the 2011 version for the olympic folder as the other 50p folder for commemoratives doesn't have a slot for the 2009 athletics. The kew gardens however would appeal to all of the above types of collectors.

[Paulus]

I agree just.me, there is a distinction between coin types for circulation (even proof and Piedfort versions of same) and those that were never destined for circulation, in my view

[Phil FK]

Phew. Got that one.

[Chris Perkins]

It goes to show that values are all due to the hype (and the perceived 'rarity' generated) and nothing to do with the mintage numbers. I think with the coins in sets, packs etc the Kew coin mintage is actually more like 500,000.

A really rare one to find would be the 1999 standard £2 coin. 38 million made, but I bet you can't find an UNC one. They didn't go into sets and buying annual sets is the easy (dare I say, lazy) option that most people take.

And the 2007 slave trade £2 without the DG initials (all the coins in sets had DG on the reverse). Very rare in UNC, again, because people just collect sets and not actual coins.

I'm currently putting a website together in conjunction with my "Collectors' Coins - Decimal Issues of the UK" book. Here: www.checkyourchange.co.uk

Oh, and a lot of the hype would appear to originate (although I can't confirm this) from companies that have a vested interest in certain coins becoming higher in value. Pump and dump someone called it.

[copper123]

Yep like Chris said the market is mainly lead by numpties who know nothing about coins .

shows that even after 250 years the general public are still as gullible as when the Anne farthing story came out in the press.

[Paulus]

I don't know that story Copper?

[Chris Perkins]

The elders among you will probably remember something similar in the 60s for 1950/51 pennies, except back then communication wasn't as quick and things didn't explode onto the scene like they do with the internet now.

It is a fact that there is (through whatever reason) huge demand for the Kew 50p at the moment, for example. So prices are high and I think they'll actually stay high for quite a while. They won't rise especially, but these hype situations have a long residual effect. I think a lot of people see these things as an investment, as if it were easy to invest in coins with little or no basic knowledge. They buy them for their children, grandchildren etc and it's mostly people on low incomes from what I can see. There is a massive interest in decimal coins at the moment, and I suppose that can't be a bad thing. 1 in 100 will go further than just the stuff the media feeds them!

[Rob]

I don't know that story Copper?

You need a copy of Peck. Appendix 9 p.608-12 refers. There was rumoured to be only three in existence in Feb. 1802. Then only 2. They changed hands for £400 and up. One sold for 750 guineas at auction. Finally, in April it was noted there were 11 already advertised for sale at between £100 and £400 each. Someone offered a gilt one for £500. Someone even offered to pay off the national debt in exchange for a patent to make Queen Anne farthings.

Mr Average UK was, is, and always will be gullible, ever anxious to chase after that elusive pot of gold without question.

[shaneleeds]

Phil - you showed a collection of 2011 Olympic 50p's. The one I wrote about is the same coin as that released with the date 2011, but with a date of 2009 - have you checked the date of your Athletic 50p? I believe, but may be wrong, the 2009 Athletic 50p was only issued in the Royal Mint Blue Peter card - wasn't issued for general release.

Phew. Got that one.

[copper123]

Not for circulation no , if any are in circulation it would prob be one or two - which would make it THE RAREST COIN IN CIRCULATION ....

unless you know different?

[Guest Sarah]

I have contacted the Royal Mint regarding the actual figures for the Royal Mint Blue Peter coin 2009 (Athletic Coin 2009)  Only 19,751 were issued making it rarer than originally thought.

 

 

[copper123]

Would anyone like a ex rare  blue peter 50p 2009 only £200

[Nordle11]

I'll give you a quid for it

[Nordle11]

But you pay the postage.....

[DaveG38]

According to Spink 2016, the issue was 100,000 and the price is £3, which sounds about par for the course to me.

[Nordle11]

Where are all of these references getting their mintage figures from?! As far as I'm aware, and according the to RM, they minted over 2.2 million of this design.

[Nordle11]

According to OP, Coin Yearbook says 100k,  Spink is noting 100k and 'Guest Sarah' says she contacted the RM who said they issued only 19k?

None of this makes any sense to me.

[Rob]

It's just the ongoing obsession with the British public about 50ps and how rare they must be. I get called once or twice a day asking how much I would pay for various 50ps. The reply of 50p is usually met with derision because people are asking a couple hundred quid on eBay for them. When you explain that eBay is the only place you are likely to find someone stupid enough to pay that, they don't believe you. There's a real fixation in the minds of the public that the commemorative 50ps are worth a fair amount, or at least considerably more than 50p.

Makes you wonder why the RM release any onto the market given they are always worth more than face - not.

[Nordle11]

I've a complete 50p collection bar the new Beatrix Potter example so did the homework and searching, the only ones I had to pay more than a couple of quid for were the Kew gardens (luckily bought before the hype) and the UK Chairmanship of EEC (1992).

And once or twice a day is once or twice a day too many to be getting calls about people's 'rare' 50ps

[Guest Sarah]

7 hours ago, Nordle11 said:

Where are all of these references getting their mintage figures from?! As far as I'm aware, and according the to RM, they minted over 2.2 million of this design.

Where the confusion I think comes from is that people are not aware the Athletic coin has two different mintage dates with 2 different mintage figures.  The coins are identical apart i.e. olympic logo etc apart from they are dated 2009 or 2011.  It is the only olympic coin as far as I am aware to have been minted on 2 separate dates.  In 2009 it was minted as the "Blue Peter high jump coin" in the blue peter packaging and this coin has the date 2009.  Only 19K of the 2009 dated coin were minted.  The original estimates were 100,000 for this 2009 dated coin

 In 2011 the coin was re-released as the "athletic coin" with over 2.2 million coins minted with the 2011 date instead of the 2009 date. 

This makes the athletic 2009 coin significantly rarer than the 2009 Kew garden 50p coin.  The 2009 coin is not in the circulation figures for 2009 because the 2009 coin was not for circulation, only the 2011 version even though the Royal mint quote the athletic coin as a 2009 dated coin!