2013 Coins From The Royal Mint

Thanks for this James - very helpful. Though how will those of us who don't have friends/relatives in London be able to obtain loose members of the London Underground coins (my son (another James!), aged 11, loves collecting loose coins and cannot afford commemorative packs out of his pocket money!). Checked the web link and sent an email. But the blog keeps freezing my computer! Re mass market - have a look at ebay and the numbers of Olympic 50p for sale - seems that the Mint has got this set right too!

I am TOTALLY amazed.....over the Past few years, The Royal Mint issues approx 400 to 800 Million NEW Penny's every year,I have been told The Royal Mint wont sell them to me and that I should check the banks, I have been into 17 different Post Office Branchs within a 35 mile radius, and I would guess approx 35 different Bank Branchs within 60 mile radius (6 Brands), and an unmentionable number (possibly 150 or more) of supermarkets and shops including ASDA, TESCO, LIDL, Morrisons, Currys, B&Q to name but a few I even work in a 6 days a week in a shop, and EVERY ONE of these places all tell me the same, "We only use/recycle coins received over the counter from the public, we never get bags of NEW coins from anywhere, So I ask myself.......WHERE DOES THESE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF NEW ISSUES GO EVERY YEAR AND HOW DO THEY GET THERE......! I WAS ONLY JOKING IN AN EARLIER POST, BUT SERIOUSLY NOT NOW, I now have to seriously consider spending £3750 by purchasing 150 UNC 2013 yearsets at £25 each (YES 150) just so I can get 150 nice shiny new 2013 Penny's for my daughter wedding favours bag in June.

I think the pennies (and other coins) are released in batches. I've noticed that there are times I can't walk out of any shop / pub / venue without getting brand new coins in change. I got four of those "Edinburgh" coins from four different shops a while back - all UNC. At other times I never see them. That's probably part of the reason you can't find them when you want them.

As suggested by The Royal Mint, I contacted a bank today, Actually The Bank of England today by Email, GUESS WHAT THEY TOLD ME TO DO......?
"You would need to contact " The Royal Mint" as we only deal with NOTES.
I see some sellers on ebay are selling them UNC at 99p each, I suppose its better to pay £148.50 to them rather than £3750 to The Royal Mint.

Just another thought, why don't we issue a 99p coin and do away with all them 400 to 800 million penny's issued every year....?

The 99p coin 'debate' does not go down very well with the experts here. It obviously makes no sense, you don't have to think about it for very long to realise it's a bad idea.

Getting rid of the penny is quite a different matter. Lots of interesting arguments for and against.

Banks should be able to change your money for you. You could even ask at supermarkets, shops or anywhere that deals with large amounts of change. Essentially you will need to strike lucky and find a bag of new pennies by chance. We wouldn't even be able to tell you where to find them.

Of course, there are millions of them on site here!

You mean the Benedetto Pistrucci St George and the dragon design! A classic by any measure. I think it's very unlikely it will ever be used on a coin other than the Sovereign in future I'm afraid.

You may enjoy reading our potted history of the Sovereign at The Royal Mint blog!

http://blog.royalmint.com/the-royal...t-sovereign/

Oooo... that is good to know. I'm going to get a hold of my coin guy over here as soon as I can make contact for a '51 and 1890 series in as nice of condition as I can find. I will have to add the Gibraltar to the list. I just love the design.

James, thank you for the proper name on the design. I hate showing how amaturish I am with the local coins. It's true, but that doesn't mean that I want to broadcast it.

This may be interesting for the fellow UK coin collectors, I have spotted the very first 2013 London Underground comemmoritive 2 pound coins in the Marble Arch tube station's Oyster machine in 04/02/2013. The machine gave me four brand new shiny train 2 Pounds, and one with the logo of the London Underground. Lovely suprise it is!. If you're in London, you may check there ;) Just top up 5 pounds from the machine and put a paper tenner. You'll have 2 x 2 Pounds and a pound coin in change. :)