10 Pence - Elizabeth II 5th portrait T - Tea (2018–2019)

One row for each year the 10 Pence - Elizabeth II 5th portrait – T - Tea was struck. Prices are medians of verified sold listings matched to that year from the listing: circulated is worn condition up to Extremely Fine, uncirculated is About Uncirculated or better. A count in brackets means fewer than three sales behind the figure; a grey figure marked "type" is the median across every year, shown where that year has no sale of its own yet. Most types have been searched year by year only since October 2026, so later years are still filling in. Use the grade table below for a price by condition across all years.

About the 2018 10 Pence - Elizabeth II – T - Tea

The 2018 10 Pence - Elizabeth II – T - Tea is a circulating 10 pence coin issued from 2018 to 2019, struck in nickel plated steel. It weighs 6.5g and measures 24.5mm across. Reverse design: A traditional tea pot to the right of letter ‘T’.

Mintage figures are recorded for 2 years between 2018 and 2019, 304,000 coins in all. 2019 is the scarcest date, with 84,000 struck.

Common questions

History and design

Tea is the letter T in the Royal Mint's A to Z 10p series, 26 coins issued for circulation in 2018 under the title The Great British Coin Hunt: Quintessentially British A to Z. The Mint revealed the series on 1 March 2018. Coin World reported that the themes followed a 2017 poll of UK residents, in which 86 per cent named tea as the drink most associated with Britain, with coffee and gin and tonic on 2 per cent each.

The Royal Mint's circulating figures give 220,000 T coins dated 2018 and 84,000 dated 2019, a total of 304,000. Every letter had 220,000 in 2018, and 21 of the 26 share the 84,000 figure for 2019, so the Tea coin sits with the bulk of the series. For scale, the Mint lists 33,300,000 ordinary 10p coins dated 2017.

The reverse shows a traditional teapot beside a large letter T. The Royal Mint titles the coin T, Teapot, and introduces it with a couplet: "Things might get on top of us but one thing stays true, With our shared love of tea, we'll always pull through."

The Mint's account of the subject credits Catherine of Braganza, daughter of Portugal's King John IV, with bringing the habit to Britain when she married Charles II and arrived with her favourite loose-leaf tea in her luggage. It was first taken up by the nobility, then spread to everyone else as imports grew and the cost fell.

The Royal Mint credits the reverse to The Royal Mint Team. The obverse carries the fifth portrait of Elizabeth II by Jody Clark. The coin is nickel-plated steel with a milled edge.

Collecting notes

The date on the obverse is the only difference between the two issues, so check it before anything else: the 2019 coin had well under half the mintage of the 2018 one. Sellers use both Tea and Teapot for this coin, and they are the same design.

No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin.

The Royal Mint sold the design as a sterling silver proof dated 2018, with the same weight and diameter as the circulating coin, and included it in a 2019 uncirculated set of all 26 letters. Sister coins include U, Union Flag and A, Angel of the North.