The autumn run of Royal Mint 50ps is dispatching this month and next, gold has come off its September high, and the fortnight's auction results were led by a modern gold proof rather than a Victorian rarity. Here is what happened, with the figures.
The Snowman is back, and one advent calendar hides a gold coin
The 2026 Snowman 50p is the ninth Royal Mint coin to carry Raymond Briggs' character. This year's reverse is a new illustration by the animator and illustrator Robin Shaw: the Snowman decorating a Christmas tree with James. The coin was listed for launch on 13 October with dispatch in early November, and the individual coins start at £19.95, with brilliant uncirculated, coloured, silver and gold editions.
The part that made the papers is the advent calendar. At £39.95 each calendar holds a brilliant uncirculated colour edition of the 50p behind the Christmas Eve door, and one calendar holds the gold version instead, which sells on its own for £2,495. The Mint ran the same format in 2025, so the calendars are likely to go quickly again.
Cluedo gets a 50p, and the gold one was a prize
The Royal Mint and Hasbro launched a Cluedo 50p on 28 September. The reverse shows the six character tokens from the game over a microtext background of Cluedo clues, and the series starts at £19.95. The coin was proclaimed on 10 March this year, so it had been coming for a while. Silver proofs were due to dispatch by 19 October and the brilliant uncirculated coins in late October.
To go with it the Mint ran a free online competition, "The Case of the Missing Coin", with a gold Cluedo 50p worth over £2,000 as the prize. Entries closed on 19 October, so if you were going to enter, that has gone.
Wicked, twenty years at the Apollo Victoria
The Wicked 50p launched on 17 September, marking twenty years of the musical in the West End. The design is a clock face: Elphaba's hat and broomstick form the hands, and around the dial sit Glinda's wand and shoes, the Grimmerie, a flying monkey and the Wizard in his balloon. Most reports put the starting price at £19.50, with some editions in the show's green and pink. The gold edition is struck in recycled gold, which fits the Mint's stated aim of making all of its collectable gold coins from recycled metal by the end of 2026.
You have been looking for these: "2026 50p Wicked" and "2026 50p Cluedo" were among the site searches this month that found nothing. None of the three is in the catalogue yet. They go in once the first realised sales come through, which for the Wicked coin should be any week now.
Also dispatching: Star Trek and the last Tudor Beast
Two September launches reach letterboxes this week. The first coin in the Star Trek 50 series, "Live Long and Prosper", launched on 3 September with brilliant uncirculated coins due by 19 October and the silver proof in late October: the catalogue has the 60 Years of Star Trek 50p with its gold and silver proofs. The 2027 Royal Tudor Beasts completer launched on 10 September, with the brilliant uncirculated £5 due by 19 October and the silver and gold proofs dispatching straight away. The 2027 proof sovereign opened on 22 September and the 2027 Lunar Year of the Sheep on 1 September.
The dealer calendars also list Lord of the Rings coins two and three and a second Star Trek coin as coming, with no dates. Treat those as tentative until the Mint says.
The fortnight's sales: a Lennon leads
Our record of verified realised sales for 6 to 19 October holds 2,855 sales worth about £276,000: 2,785 on eBay UK for about £155,000, 58 at NumisBids for about £112,000 and 12 at Baldwin's. The top of the list was modern gold. A 2025 John Lennon £200 gold proof graded PR-70 made £13,250 at NumisBids on 10 October, and a 2026 five sovereign piece at PR-70 made £9,010 in the same sale.
The Victorian money followed. Two 1847 Gothic crowns, a coin with a mintage of 8,000, sold on 7 October at £10,000 (PR-62) and £6,500 (PR-60). The 1887 Jubilee £5 sold three times in a week: £5,194 at MS-61, £4,500 in VF at Baldwin's on 12 October, and £3,816 in EF. An 1821 George IV half sovereign at MS-64 made £6,000, an 1831 William IV proof half crown £4,770, and a 1902 Edward VII £5 proof £4,346.
The auction round-up and the weekly market roundup have the full tables.
What change is selling for
In the same fortnight the busiest circulation coins on eBay were the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p, 19 sales averaging £7.82, the 2011 Olympic Football 50p, 16 sales averaging £16.95, and the 2009 Kew Gardens 50p, 10 sales averaging £105.70. The 2023 Coronation 50p sold 15 times at an average of £6.25 and the Capercaillie 10p 11 times at £2.20. If you have a 50p you are not sure about, the coin identifier now takes a typed description, a measurement, or a few questions.
Gold off its high
Gold stood at £3,092.52 an ounce this morning, against £3,276.20 on 20 September and £3,138.96 a week ago, so about 5.6% below the September figure. Silver was £42.89 and platinum £1,234.42. The spot prices page updates hourly, and the sovereign and Britannia guides price off it.
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