50 Pence - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait large type (1985–1997)

One row for each year the 50 Pence - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait – large type 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; years with no sales yet fill in as sales are recorded. 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 1985 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – large type

The 1985 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – large type is a circulating 50 pence coin issued from 1985 to 1997, struck in copper-nickel (75% Cu, 25% Ni). It weighs 13.5g and measures 30mm across. Reverse design: A figure of Britannia seated beside a lion, with a shield resting against her right side, holding a trident in her right hand and an olive branch in her left, denomination below and legend above.

Mintage figures are recorded for 12 years between 1985 and 1997, 1,848,037 coins in all. 1993 is the scarcest date, with 56,945 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1998), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

A new portrait of the Queen went onto the coinage in 1985, and the Britannia 50p was struck with it that year. Then production for circulation stopped. The Royal Mint's figures give 682,103 coins dated 1985 and no circulating Britannia 50p at all from 1986 until the small coin of 1997.

That makes 1985 the only circulating date of this type and the lowest figure for any Britannia 50p. In the Royal Mint's figures for all circulating 50p coins it is the fourth lowest, after the Single Market coin (109,000), the Atlantic Salmon (200,000) and Kew Gardens (210,000). The year before the gap, 1983, had produced 62,824,904.

The only 50p coins issued for circulation during the gap were commemoratives: the Single Market coin dated 1992 to 1993 and the D-Day coin of 1994. Other dates of this type were made for collector sets. The large coin was demonetised in 1998.

The reverse is Christopher Ironside's Britannia, seated beside a lion with a shield against her right side, a trident in her right hand and an olive branch in her left. The inscription FIFTY PENCE is above and the figure 50 below.

The obverse has Raphael Maklouf's portrait. The Royal Mint says he was selected in 1982, worked from photographs by Lord Snowdon and two sittings with the Queen, and aimed for an ageless image of her as a regal symbol. It shows her with a necklace, earrings and the royal diadem, and was used from 1985 to 1997. The edge is plain.

Collecting notes

The date decides what you have. A 1985 coin can be a circulation strike, and with 682,103 made it is far scarcer than the 1982 and 1983 coins before it. Coins of the later dates were not issued for circulation, so they should show the cleaner finish of a set coin, not circulation wear.

Size separates this type from the 1997 coin with the same portrait and reverse. This one is 30mm and 13.5g. The small 1997 50p is 27.3mm and 8g, and is the one still spendable.

The large coin cannot be spent. The BBC reported that the last day for using it was Saturday 28 February 1998. No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin. The preceding type, with the Machin portrait, is the 1982 to 1984 50p.