20 Pence - Charles III Puffin (2023–2026)

One row for each year the 20 Pence - Charles III Puffin 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 2023 20 Pence - Charles III Puffin

The 2023 20 Pence - Charles III Puffin is a circulating 20 pence coin issued from 2023 to 2026, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 5g and measures 21.4mm across. Reverse design: Depiction of a Puffin facing left, denomination over royal cypher design at left.

A mintage of 525,000 is recorded for one date of this type; figures for each year are not held.

Common questions

History and design

The Puffin 20p is the definitive 20p of King Charles III, one of eight new designs from the 1p to the £2 that the Royal Mint unveiled on 12 October 2023 on a theme of British plants and animals. It replaced the Royal Shield 20p introduced in 2008.

The Royal Mint's figures show 525,000 dated 2023 struck for circulation, none dated 2024 and 20,125,000 dated 2025. The 2023 figure is the lowest for any 20p in the Mint's data, and the Mint itself lists the coin as the rarest of the denomination. The next lowest is 11,900,000 for the 2008 Gardner 20p. Even the 2025 figure is the fourth lowest for a 20p.

Struck does not yet mean released. The Mint says the 20p is not currently in circulation and will only enter circulation if there is demand. When the King's first 10p coins went out in August 2026, the Mint named the 5p, 50p, £1 and 10p as the denominations with his portrait that had reached circulation. The 20p was not among them.

The reverse shows a puffin with the inscription 20 PENCE and a large numeral, set against a repeating pattern of three interlocking C's that runs across all eight coins and refers to the cypher of Charles II. The Royal Mint calls the puffin an unmistakable seabird and says about 10% of the world population breeds along the UK coastline. It is a Red List species, predicted to decline severely over the next 30 years, though the Mint adds that there is hope if nesting sites and food supply are protected.

The Mint credits the reverse to its own team, which worked with the Royal Mint Advisory Committee and external artists, with support from the RSPB and the Royal Horticultural Society. The obverse carries the King's coinage portrait by Martin Jennings with the inscription CHARLES III DEI GRA REX FID DEF and the date. The coin is cupro-nickel, seven sided, with a plain edge.

Varieties and errors

There are two versions of the 2023 coin. Those sold in the Royal Mint's 2023 definitive sets carry a small Tudor Crown privy mark on the obverse, which the Mint describes as exclusive to that set. Coin Hunter records that the 525,000 struck for circulation have no privy mark.

No mint errors are documented for this coin.

Collecting notes

Check the date and then the obverse. A 2023 coin with the crown privy mark is a set coin, and a coin dated 2024 can only be from a set because none of that date were struck for circulation. A 2023 coin without the privy mark would be one of the 525,000.

If and when the Mint releases them, the 2025 coins will outnumber the 2023 coins by about 38 to one. The proclamation also provides for gold, silver, silver piedfort and platinum versions, which do not count towards the circulating figures.

The other bird in the set, the Capercaillie 10p, waited until August 2026 for its release.