RobJ

It's odd really as I have managed to obtain coins from around 10 years ago which are practically UNC, but then I have also seen coins that are a year or two old that look as if they were minted in the 1940's lol I do not always collect or keep all of the coins that I obtain from my change, only usually the very best examples, but as I receive a BU set each year as a Christmas Present, I have no real need for them. I just find it a fun thing to do.

Very valid points Sylvester. I think truth be told we may never know if it were accidental on behalf of the Royal Mint or not.

I had no idea about the Welsh Leek £1 coin with an apostrophe missing from the I'm Numishoro. Does that affect the 1985 or the 1990 Issues or does it affect both of them?

I managed to obtain 2 2010 £1 Coins in my change yesterday. So it is only the 50p that I have yet to find.

I agree with you Sylvester, it certainly makes it a lot more interesting and a lot more fun when checking the coins in your change. Perhaps I am becoming overly cynical in my older years, but it has crossed my mind several times that the 20p 'Mule' was not an error at all. If you think about it this was the first occasion in many years that we had a new set of coins issued that featured a completely new design across the various Denominations between 1p to £1. It strikes me that the Royal Mint would want to get people looking at the new Designs on our everday coins - Especially with the mixed reaction from some people when the new Designs were first unvailed - So what better way than to have a major 'Error' with one of them. Although the Royal Mint are very efficient in mass producing coins to a incredibly high standard, incidents of errors can and do sometimes happen, so it may very well have been a genuine error one someones part. One thing that is for certain however, is that it certainly had a lot of people very closely looking at the new Designs of our everyday coins!

The first time that I heard about one of these 5p Coins was when Chris posted a Topic about it a while ago. I have been checking my change since but I am yet to obtain one. I have seen coins before where the OBV/REV has been rotated to some degree, but I have never personally seen one rotated by a full 180 Degrees before. It is hard to say just how many of them may be in circulation. I you think about it, a single 'Run' of coins created by the Royal Mint would be in their many Thousands, for example the 20p 'Mule' is believed to have had a 'Run' of less than 250,000, so unless there was some kind of 'Glitch' where only a small amount were produced with the REV at 180 Degrees and the rest were unaffected - Although I'm not exactly sure how that may occur - There may be an awful lot out there that no one knows about. I'm sure in time that if there are more of them out there that they will be found and probably end up on E-Bay. lol

I'd like to wish everyone a Very Happy and a Very Prosperous New Year.

Agreed:) It's just a shame that Coin Shop closed. They had quite a good selection of Decimal Coins. Also the owner wasn't adverse to opening a Royal Mint Set if there were particular coins that you needed from it. I managed to obtain a few of my BU £2 and 50p Issues that way.

I think that the Seller has the same idea that you have Peter. I was browsing through the Sellers 'Other Items' when I noticed this item. I also noticed that the P+P charges have risen from £1 to £1.25!

A Coin Shop that I used to visit until it recently closed used to do a similar thing David. The owner used to pull out a bag of £2 Coins and asked if there were any that I needed and if there were, I was given them in my change. I thought that it was actually quite a good idea. lol

Excellent point Scott! lol

It is a sad state if affairs really isn't it. I remember when all the hype over the 20p 'Mule' was raging across E-Bay and people were selling standard 20p's way over face value as they had no date on the OBV. The saddest part is some people obviously knew what they were doing and were ripping unsuspecting people off by 'Clever' wording in their item description. I guess some things never change, sadly.

Don't think of it as stockpiling them Peckris, think more of it as a 'Savings Scheme.' You collect them from your change and when you find a better example you 'Pay it in' and swap it for the one that you already have and then you 'Withdraw' the other one in into your pocket, thus not only saving you £2 each time but also leaving you with future assets. lol And if that doesn't convince you I don't know what will. lol

Also, if you look closely at the 2004 'Entente Cordiale' £5 Coin, you will see 'Edward's' Britannia there as well. I must admit that I rather like the 'Britannia' Issues. S4500 Is really quite breathtaking. You are right to say that it would be a subject of much debate with the Edward VII Britannia Design. If I'm honest I rather like S4503 as well (Minus the lettering.) I think that it is a superb design!

It is a nice idea. Sadly however, I can imagine the Royal Mint producing them as Special Commemorative 'Medal' Issues as opposed to Circulating Coins. No doubt charging a vastly overpriced premium for them in the process! As for the 50p, you and I both know that they have been earmarked for the upcoming 'Wives of Ian Beale' Commemorative Issues.

Thats right Chaps, you tell him! lol If only there were some way that we could get Peckris to join us in the 'Dark Side' of collecting £2 Coins from change...

That is quite a nice idea actually. Reissuing some of the older designs on the newer coins. I do think however that unless they were on the £5 Coin or the £2 Coin that there would be no justice given to the designs.

I have been offered some of the 'Single Metal' types when at Coin Shops, usually the 1986 Commonwealth Games, 1989 Bill of Rights, 1995 WWII and 1996 European Football Championships, so I do know that they are out there and that they are available. I was just speaking from personal experience of obtaining them from my change.

Hi Sion, Welcome to the Forum.

I can only speak from experience from collecting the 1992 Small 10p's but as far as I am aware only one type was available in BU from the Royal Mint Sets and the other types were available from the standard Circulation coins, although I may be wrong. I have found each of the five varieties (I think that there are five varieties) of the 1992 Small 10p's in my change, but they are all around VF. Im not sure if they would be easier to collect or not if I'm honest. Perhaps the 'Technology' ones may be easier but as I said some of the Commemoratives are very hard to obtain. For example, if you did decide to collect the £2 Commemorative Issues you would not be able to collect any of the 'Single Metal' types from your change as they were no longer issued after 1996 and I have personally seen one since. Also a few of those, in my experience at least, I never found in Circulation at the time at all. As for the 'Bi Metal' types although I have managed to obtain nearly all of them from my change, again some of them I didn't find at all and a for a few of the other Issues I have only ever managed to obtain a couple of specimins each. However, do not let any of that put you off Sylvester, I'm just trying to pass along some advice from my own personal experience. E-Bay is actually rather good for both £2 'Technology' and Commemorative Issues. You will probably be able to find most of them on there if you are prepared to put in the time. It seems to me that as soon as someone finds a £2 Coin it ends up on E-Bay. lol So there will be plenty of them for you to choose from. Also, start to check your change as you never know what will turn up there, only yesterday I obtained a near UNC 2007 'Act of Union' £2 Coin.

Sorry Sylvester, my Douglas Hurd isn't up for swapsies, lol Seriously though, with the number of 'Special Collectable Medals' etc that have been recently released by the Royal Mint, I wouldn't be surprised if it happend either!

I do agree with you Scott. The prices that the Royal Mint charge in general for any Commemorative Issue are overpriced. I do understand that a BU coin is of a higher quality than a standard Circulation coin, etc. However to charge many times the face value of the coin is excessive to say the least. The 2012 Olympic Games 50p Issues at £2.99 are actually quite cheap compared to the other 50p Annual Issues which are around £6.99!

I think that there have been a few nice designs on the £5 Commemorarive Coins. My favourite by far is the 2004 'Entente Cordiale' Issue. I do really like that design. The 2001 Queen Victoria and the 2009 Henry VIII are also quite nice designs too. As for the rest, I could take them or leave them personally.

I'm not so sure if I'm honest. I know that these set of Issues are to Commemorate a specific one off event, but that may not stop the Royal Mint from creating future set or sets in BU only. As Sylvester states there are a multitide of possible designs that could be created and issued. However, if they were to be Special BU Issues only then it may not be very profitable for the mint to create them, after all they are a Business looking to maximise their profits. Then again as Scott mentions to release them each year would be very hard as well due to the annual Minting requirements. I do hope that mass Issues such as these are kept to those very special events of significance. Otherwise, in a few years time we may all be looking to complete a set of 1979 Conservative Cabinet Ministers and getting over excited if we find a 'Michael Heseltine.' lol

Personally I like the variations of each design, that is the reason that I started to collect them. I think that there has been 28 different Commemorative Designs in total to date which I don't think is a massive ammount to try to collect. Although certain ones are a lot harder to obtain than others. I started to collect mine when they were first issued so was luckily able to obtain nearly all of them from my change. I personally find it a fun and enjoyable way to collect from my change. I do agree Sylvester, the 'Technology' design is most innovative and very clever. I think that it would be quite easy to complete a date run of 'Technology' £2 Coins as most are readily available in your change. If my memory serves me right 2005 had the lowest mintage of around 5 Million so that may be quite hard to obtain in a collectable Grade. However, if you wanted to collect BU or even Proof Specimins they are also readily available from the Royal Mint Sets and Single Year Issues.