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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,316 |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
251 Posts |
Bit of a random topic, but one I'm curious about. How often do people here see the Olympics 50ps in change? I was thinking today that it must be over a year since I last had one in change, despite the fact that in total there were around 40 million made.
So, how often do you folk see them? Or, at least prior to the pandemic, how often? Do I just have terrible luck or are they really virtually non-existent these days? Edited by Collector28
09/20/2020 08:17 am
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2881 Posts |
Practically never.
My daughter runs a honesty box for eggs she sells so we get about 2 50ps per day amongst all the coins (it's £1 per box). We've had some quite interesting special editions but haven't had an Olympic one in the past 2 years.
Edited by Bacchus2
09/20/2020 08:35 am
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
945 Posts |
I do the markets with a coin stall, so get to handle plenty of change. I can't remember when I last had an Olympic 50p that way.
However, I get a steady stream of people with the jar or box of saved 50ps that they hope to cash in for more than face. I am happy to do that when there are scarcer coins in there, and that way I get Olympic 50ps fairly regularly. I think this year I have had 1 football, 3 Wrestling, 1 Judo and 2 Triathlon amongst the rarer ones. No Kew Gardens, but most of the scarcer Beatrix Potter ones except Mrs Tittlemouse.
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Valued Member
 United Kingdom
251 Posts |
I'm part of a few coin groups on facebook and see many people posting about finding Olympic 50ps in change, which always amazes me because they weren't exactly common even many years back. Recently someone posted about getting 2 in the same day (along with a couple other commemoratives), so either there are some very lucky people out there or people are just photographing coins they have and claiming they found them in change that day! I'm a mathematician and very aware of odds and things such that I can believe it could happen, but with the frequency of the claims one begins to question the legitimacy sometimes...
Edited by Collector28
09/20/2020 1:12 pm
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Pillar of the Community
4628 Posts |
There is a Youtuber called Coin Patrol who frequently does videos about these, and he got excited finding a Florence Johnson 50p in a 50p coin hunt (£250 worth) and then got a Blue Peter card with a 2009 one and acted like it was the rosetta stone.
His videos are quite entertaining.
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17949 Posts |
Since the beginning of 2018 I've sorted through nearly 10,000 50p coins in bags from the banks.
So far I've found 45 Olympic coins. The breakdown is as follows:
Aquatics (2), Archery (4), Athletics (2), Badminton (1), Basketball (2), Boccia (2), Boxing (2), Canoeing (4), Cycling (5), Equestrian (1), Fencing (1), Goalball (1), Handball (1), Judo (1), Pentathlon (1), Sailing (1), Shooting (1), Table-Tennis (2), Taekwondo (1), Triathlon (3), Volleyball (2), Weightlifting (2), Wheelchair Rugby (2), Wrestling (1).
This makes Olympic 50p coins overall about equally as common as 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p's! Just for the record, I've found 3,428 1997 50p's!
The last lot I got from the bank was a £250 bag in August. In 500 coins there was only one Olympic 50p - a Judo one.
Since starting this survey I've had two in normal pocket change - another Judo and a Football (Offside Rule).
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
251 Posts |
@NumisRob where are you living where they're as common as Benjamin bunnies!? I suppose there's probably a greater chance of finding them searching through bags because there's less chance of an eagle-eyed cashier snatching them up, though. I'm more surprised at the apparent lack of Benjamin bunnies you've found!
Edited by Collector28
09/21/2020 05:20 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17949 Posts |
Quote:
NumisRob where are you living where they're as common as Benjamin bunnies!? Down in Kent. The Olympic 50p's have a total mintage of 53,272.613 coins (all designs). The 2017 Benjamin Bunny has a mintage of 25,000,000. This show how the Olympic coins have been hoarded, as you would normally expect to find twice as many Olympic 50p's as Benjamin Bunny ones. I suspect that if you were to withdraw several hundred pounds' worth of 50p coins from the bank, you'd be surprised how few you find of some designs: some seem very common in change, but when you actually count them they aren't as common. But I do also think there are regional variations. I live quite near Hastings, and the 2016 Battle of Hastings 50p was incredibly common around here when it came out, and I still find quite a few, but I've met collectors in Northern England who've never found one in circulation. Likewise I believe the original 2016 Peter Rabbit coins were first issued in the Lake District, and it took quite a while for them to filter down here, by which time many had been hoarded. Edited by NumisRob
09/21/2020 07:45 am
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
251 Posts |
@NumisRob there was definitely mass hoarding of the Olympic series, which is why I was surprised they were still as common for you as Benjamin Bunnies. I think I read that over 70% had been hoarded, and in reality it's probably nearer 90% by now. However I suppose there were also a lot of people who collected the Potter series, so you might be right in that they're roughly equal (albeit I've seen probably at least 20 Benjamin Bunnies over the past year working stalls, having people save them for me...but not a single Olympic). You're almost definitely right about regional variations because where coins get issued to depends on demand in a particular area - obviously there isn't as much demand where I live because it's almost impossible to find any of the recent designs.
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,316 |
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Posted 09/20/2020 10:08 am
