The Great British Coin Hunt

I firmly believe they will their scarcity makes that a near certainty, just look at the 2002 Commonwealth £2 coins , a set of 4 scratched well circulated ones now goes for more than £40 on ebay. Lots of new collectors are taking up the hobby and they are now looking for interesting coins so the demand is already going up as we speak and add to that - future coin coollectors will also want some of the same scarce coins in the near future so demand will vastly outstrip the supply and I`m sure you can guess the way the prices will head


@Liberty ,

You have just noticed the same trend I am seeing , the price (of the commonwealth games £2) has been creeping up steadily over the past few months , I suspect something similar will eventually happen with other low mintage £2 commemoratives like the Mary Rose , King James Bible, London Underground, both Olympic handover coins.....

Interesting stuff ! Funny enough I am yet to get any of the commonwealth games £2 coins in my change

Thats very interesting I suspect the reason for that maybe because people in their 20s want to spend their money on beers and all sorts of related stuff , while those in their 30s probably have families and young children so hobbies like acquiring pricey coins etc are taken to the back burner ...... and then by the time they reach their late 40s to 50s the kids are all grown up and have left the nest thus more money is available for indulging in luxurious coins, medals etc




Yeah that happens and will happen with some commemorative coins but I do wonder if the Kew garden 50p will be the coin to buck such a trend .... yeah while no one will make enough money off these coins to retire and live in a luxurious villa, there is some nice profit margins that will be made off some of them for those who are lucky enough and have realistic expectations ....

I am 27, and also know that a fair % of the CC members are in 20's/30's

I believe that different generations and different areas swop and change what they are interested in.

I think what the mint is doing is a good way to get new interest in coins (putting the 'finding treasure' buzz into coin collecting), I think a lot of people growing up find it interesting but never pursue it as a hobby.(maybe because it isn't considered 'cool' to most people my age and under) My interest personally isn't with new coins, because its the history of a coin or the era of people who may have used the coin that I find fascinating.

I think the negative views that a few take with the undated 20p's and Kews for example is wrong, because this is bringing through the next generation of coin collectors. Its like trying to get youngsters to sign up for the local football team, you wouldn't say its stupid because its so far from the real thing because 1 in however many of these youngsters will get a genuine interest/talent and be a big future contribution in that field.

Hope my random analogy made some sense :)

Let them join the hobby, then educate later, like me, 4 months ago I just liked coins but thought nothing more of it, now, I am addicted and have an ok but growing understanding/knowledge and collection.

On the other hand, the less collectors, the cheaper we get coins for! but equally..... The more the collector base grows, the more valuable our coins become!

I am an unashamed collector of modern commemorative coins from all over the world, and it has been a lot cheaper than collecting classics!


Value is what people pay for. If thousands of new collectors get their start with circulating commemoratives, what will they look for more of? Modern coins. I get that some people are not into modern coins but this isn't enough to make sweeping statements about market trends and future value and whatever.


I like this forum because we are all nominally equal collectors here, please don't try to add weight to your personal preferences with this sort of thing. I'm under 30 and I've stopped by every major store in my city...

I only have one British commemorative (not counting the ever-changing £1), the Johnson's Dictionary 50p

I need to work on that! I recently came into a little stack of £2 coins to trade away (sold at CAD$2.25 each, not bad when the exchange rate is about $3.70!) so I am hoping to repatriate these for some commemoratives.

A bit of a view from across the pond... Like nalaberong over here I collect new stuff, but the State Quarter collection we talk about all the time is new base metal junk.

If it's from the mint and you pay a premium for it and sit on it for a few decades then yes you will most likely see some return on the investment, but if you are just collecting it from pocket change then it's just a neat collection that will take a century or two before it's worth much over face value.