Common: 10,000,000 or more minted. Sells often: 44 verified sales in the last 12 months.
50 Pence - Elizabeth II 4th portrait Johnson's Dictionary (2005)
"Johnson's Dictionary 50p"
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 2005 |
| Denomination | 50 Pence |
| Face value | 50p |
| Mintage | 17,649,000 |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Circulating |
| Composition | Copper-nickel |
| Weight | 8.000g |
| Diameter | 27.3mm |
| Thickness | 1.78mm |
| Shape | Equilateral curve heptagon (7-sided) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Obv. artist | Ian Rank-Broadley |
| Rev. artist | Tom Phillips |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
Fourth crowned portrait of Queen Elizabeth II right, wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, legend around.
ELIZABETH · II · D · G REG · F · D · 2005
Entries from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language
50 FIFTY PENCE JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY 1755
Johnson's Dictionary 50p market value
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Daily limit reachedJohnson's Dictionary 50p value by grade
Realised auction prices · ⭐ Pro Expand rows for individual sale records| Grade | Latest | Median | 30d Δ | All-time range | Sales (1yr) | Total sales | Last sale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNC | £2.77 🔒 eBay | £2.77 (1) | – | £2.77 – £2.77 | 1 | 1 | 08-05-2026 | |
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| BU | £4.50 🔒 eBay | £5.49 | – | £2.99 – £6.51 | 6 | 6 | 27-09-2026 | |
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| VF | £1.17 🔒 eBay | £1.57 | – | £0.66 – £10.80 | 34 | 35 | 25-09-2026 | |
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| PR-65 | £6.00 🔒 eBay | £6.00 | – | £1.17 – £10.95 | 3 | 3 | 07-09-2026 | |
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About the 2005 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Johnson's Dictionary
The 2005 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Johnson's Dictionary is a circulating 50 pence coin, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 8g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: Entries from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language.
17,649,000 were struck.
Common questions
How much is the 2005 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Johnson's Dictionary worth?
Verified sold prices for the 2005 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Johnson's Dictionary run from £1.57 to £6.00 across 4 grades, taking the median for each grade. Condition makes the difference, so check the grade table above before pricing one.
How many Johnson's Dictionary 50p coins were made?
The Royal Mint's mintage figures give 17,649,000 struck for circulation, all dated 2005. That is not far short of the 25,363,500 Britannia 50p coins of the same date, so the commemorative made up a large share of that year's 50p output.
Is the 2005 Johnson's Dictionary 50p rare?
No. At 17,649,000 it has the highest mintage of the eleven commemorative 50p designs dated 1998 to 2010 in the Royal Mint's figures. It is one of the easier older commemoratives to find in change.
Who designed the Johnson's Dictionary 50p?
The artist Tom Phillips designed the reverse, which sets out dictionary entries for the words FIFTY and PENCE. He later designed the 2013 Benjamin Britten 50p. The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse is by Ian Rank-Broadley.
What does the writing on the Johnson's Dictionary 50p say?
The reverse reproduces entries from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary for the words FIFTY and PENCE, with the figure 50 above and JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY 1755 below. 1755 is the year the Dictionary was published, 250 years before the coin.
Is there a 2009 Johnson's Dictionary 50p?
Yes, but only for collectors. The design was struck again in 2009 for the Royal Mint's 40th anniversary 50p collection of 16 reverse designs. Every coin struck for circulation is dated 2005.
How do I identify the 2005 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Johnson's Dictionary?
Check the weight 8g and diameter 27.3mm and the metal (copper-nickel) against the specification table on this page. The reverse design is described above.
History and design
The Johnson's Dictionary 50p was issued in 2005, 250 years after Samuel Johnson published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755. The Royal Mint describes the book as one of the most influential works in the history of the language: compiled over nearly a decade, it defined 40,000 words and illustrated them with more than 114,000 quotations from writers such as Shakespeare and Milton.
The royal proclamation setting out the design came into force on 18 November 2004. The coin was struck for general circulation in large numbers. The Royal Mint's figures give 17,649,000, not far short of the 25,363,500 Britannia 50p coins of the same date.
It is the most plentiful commemorative 50p of its period. None of the other ten commemorative designs dated 1998 to 2010 in the Royal Mint's figures reaches its total, and the next highest, the 2006 Victoria Cross award coin, has 12,087,000.
The artist Tom Phillips designed the reverse, and it is made entirely of words. The Royal Mint describes it as entries from the Dictionary for the words FIFTY and PENCE, with the figure 50 above and the inscription JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY 1755 below.
The denomination is therefore given twice: as the figure 50 and as two dictionary entries. The official description mentions no portrait of Johnson and no anniversary wording beyond the year 1755.
The obverse carries the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley, used on 50p coins from 1998 to 2015, with the date 2005 after the royal titles. The edge is plain. Phillips returned to the 50p in 2013 with the Benjamin Britten coin.
Collecting notes
This is a current-size 50p (27.3mm, 8g) and remains legal tender. With more than 17 million struck it is among the older commemoratives most likely to turn up in change.
The small text of the two entries is the part to look at. Choose an example on which the definitions under FIFTY and PENCE can still be read.
The Royal Mint's sales figures for 2005 list 4,029 silver proofs against a limit of 7,500 and 3,808 silver piedforts against a limit of 5,000.
The design was struck again in 2009 as one of 16 reverses in the collection marking the 50p's 40th anniversary. Those are collector pieces, and every circulating coin is dated 2005.
No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin.
Sources
The history, design, varieties and collecting notes on this page are drawn from these sources. Prices come from recorded sales, not from them.
- UK coin mintage figures (data file), The Royal Mint (read 9 Oct 2026)
- 50p Coin Designs and Specifications, The Royal Mint (read 9 Oct 2026)
- 2005 Elizabeth II 'The 250th Anniversary of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language' 50p Coin, The Royal Mint (read 9 Oct 2026)
- Proclamation determining the specifications and design for fifty pence coins commemorating the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, London Gazette issue 57484, 3 December 2004, The Gazette (read 9 Oct 2026)
- Commemorative Coin Sales 2005, The Royal Mint (read 9 Oct 2026)
- Fifty pence (British coin), Wikipedia (read 9 Oct 2026)
- Proclamation determining the specifications and designs for new fifty pence coins, London Gazette issue 59124, 10 July 2009, The Gazette (read 9 Oct 2026)
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