50 Pence - Elizabeth II 4th portrait European Union (1998–2009)

About the 1998 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – European Union

The 1998 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – European Union is a circulating 50 pence coin issued from 1998 to 2009, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 8g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: Pattern of twelve stars representing the twelve members of the European Union, with commemorative dates and denomination below.

A mintage of 5,043,000 is recorded for one date of this type; figures for each year are not held.

Common questions

History and design

The United Kingdom held the Presidency of the European Union for six months in 1998, and the year was also the 25th anniversary of its accession to the European Economic Community in 1973. One 50p marked both. The Royal Mint notes that the 50p had become the coin for European milestones: the 1973 accession and the Single Market of 1992 to 1993 had been marked the same way.

The proclamation setting the design was made on 17 December 1997, and by late February 1998 the BBC described the coin as in circulation. It was the first commemorative 50p in the smaller size introduced in September 1997.

The Royal Mint's figures give 5,043,000 struck for circulation. Among commemorative 50p coins dated before 2009, only three are lower: the Single Market coin at 109,000, the 2003 Suffragettes coin at 3,124,030 and the NHS coin of the same year at 5,001,000.

The sculptor John Mills, who had designed the 1994 D-Day 50p, made the reverse. The official description is a celebratory arrangement of stars with the letters EU between the anniversary dates 1973 and 1998 and, below, the value 50 PENCE. The Royal Mint's shop page identifies them as the twelve stars of the European Union encircling the letters.

The obverse has the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley, new to the coinage in 1998, with the inscription ELIZABETH II D G REG F D and the date. The edge is plain.

Collecting notes

The coin is legal tender and the same size as today's 50p, so it can still turn up in change. Circulated examples lose the sharpness of the stars first, and the open field around the letters EU marks easily.

The proclamation provided for the design in cupro-nickel, in gold, and in silver at two weights: 8g, the standard proof, and 16g, the piedfort, which is the same diameter but twice as heavy. A coin of this design dated 2009 is not a circulation coin. The Royal Mint's 2009 collection for 40 years of the 50p held 16 reverse designs, all dated 2009 and sold to collectors.

No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin. Its predecessors are the 1973 EEC 50p and the Single Market 50p.