50 Pence - Elizabeth II 5th portrait Sir Isaac Newton (2017–2018)

One row for each year the 50 Pence - Elizabeth II 5th portrait – Sir Isaac Newton 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 2017 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Sir Isaac Newton

The 2017 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Sir Isaac Newton is a circulating 50 pence coin issued from 2017 to 2018, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 8g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: Design based upon elements of Proposition 11 in Book One of Newton's Principia Mathematica.

Mintage figures are recorded for 2 years between 2017 and 2018, 1,822,326 coins in all. 2018 is the scarcest date, with 20,826 struck.

Common questions

History and design

The Sir Isaac Newton 50p was issued in 2017 for the 375th anniversary of Newton's birth. The Royal Mint had its own reason to honour him. Newton became Master of the Mint in 1699 and held the post until his death in March 1727, pursuing counterfeiters and tightening the standards to which coins were made. The Mint's design listing describes him as one of the most famous figures ever to hold the role, and places the coin first in its Innovations in Science series.

The Royal Mint's figures give 1,801,500 struck for circulation, all dated 2017. That is a low figure. It is almost identical to the 1,800,000 Royal Shield 50p coins of the same year and a fraction of the four Beatrix Potter coins of 2017, which run from 9,500,000 to 25,000,000. Among commemorative 50p designs outside the 2011 Olympic sports series, only the 2009 Kew Gardens coin (210,000) and three 2018 Beatrix Potter coins are lower in the Royal Mint's figures.

Aaron West, a graphic designer at the Royal Mint, designed the reverse after winning a design competition. Expecting other entrants to use a portrait, he said he "took a gamble" and went down "the scientific route of theories and maths".

The design is based on elements of Proposition 11 in Book One of Newton's Principia Mathematica. West explained that the Sun lies at the common focal point of three ellipses representing the orbits of different planets. The geometry was checked against a template and by an outside expert. The inscription reads SIR ISAAC NEWTON with the denomination FIFTY PENCE, and West's initials sit, very small, at the bottom right.

The obverse has Jody Clark's fifth portrait of the Queen with ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF and the date. The edge is plain.

Varieties and errors

The one recognised variant is the Strike Your Own coin from the Royal Mint Experience. The Royal Mint's sales figures record 4,198 Newton 50p coins dated 2017 sold there between 16 October and 31 December 2017, and 19,928 of the "Isaac Newton 2018 50p" between 1 January and 18 March 2018.

The 2018 coin was never issued for circulation and does not appear in the Royal Mint's circulating mintage figures. A Newton 50p dated 2018 is therefore a collector strike, not a coin from change. No mint errors are documented.

Collecting notes

Check the date first. A 2017 coin from change is the circulating issue, and with 1,801,500 struck it turns up far less often than most commemorative 50p coins.

The reverse is made of fine lines, small letters and concentric rings, all in low relief. These lose definition quickly, so look for an example where the ellipses and the small lettering inside the diagram are still clear.

The Royal Mint also sold the 2017 coin in Brilliant Uncirculated, silver proof, silver proof piedfort and gold proof versions, and included it in the 2017 Annual Coin Set. The series continued with the Stephen Hawking 50p.