Decimal Day 50p

Decimal Day 50p Coin Guide

The Decimal Day 50p (also known as the Decimalisation 50p) is a new coin from The Royal Mint in 2021 celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Decimalisation.

Available from 9 am Monday 11th January 2021 as a commemorative coin in base metal, Silver and Gold limited editions.

Click the button below to shop the range of coins available for sale.

Buy Decimal Day 50p

The UK Royal Mint has issued a range of products to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Decimal Day. Shop the range.

How much is the Decimal Day 50p coin?

Here are the prices from The Royal Mint on day of release:

• Brilliant Uncirculated Coin: £10
• Silver Proof Coin: £57.50
• Silver Proof Piedfort Coin: £100
• Gold Proof Coin: £1,100
• Gold Proof Coin Strike on the Day: £1,250
• Gold Proof Piedfort Coin: £2,175

It is also available as part of the 2021 Annual Coin Sets.

How many Decimal Day 50p coins are there?

Brilliant Uncirculated Coin

• Brilliant Uncirculated Coin
• Struck to Brilliant Uncirculated standard – a finer finish than circulating coins
• £10 + P&P on day of release

Buy BUNC

Decimal Day 50p Silver Coins

• Silver Proof Coin
  • Limited Edition 6,000
  • £57.50 + P&P on day of release
• Silver Proof Piedfort Coin
  • Limited Edition 2,500
  • £100 + P&P on day of release

Buy Silver

Decimal Day 50p Gold Coins

• Gold Proof Coin
  • Limited Edition: 450
  • £1,100 + P&P
• Gold Proof Piedfort Coin
  • Limited Edition: 200
  • £2,175 + P&P

Buy Gold

What’s the bird on the coin design?

The beautiful design of this coin has caused quite a stir in the UK Coin Collecting community. Which pre-decimal coins you can spot on this commemorative 50p coin?

The 50th Anniversary of Decimalisation 50p reverse design depicts scenes from pre-decimal British coins such as the unmistakable wren bird from the British Farthing coins.

The other parts of the coin depict the crown of a threepence, sitting alongside the rose of the sixpence, next to an iconic Britannia, and all of the coins are the actual size they were 50 years ago.

The Royal Mint coin designer, Dominique Evans said

I really hope that this design will be a nostalgic reminder and talking point, and that people will not be able to resist getting out their old pre-decimal coins and placing them on top of this coin with a smile.

Before Decimal Day in 1971, there were 240 pence (the plural of penny) in one pound sterling. There were four farthings in a penny, twelve pence in a shilling, and twenty shillings in a pound; so 960 farthings in a pound.

Decimalisation 50p Coin Obverse

Interestingly, the obverse (tails side) of the Decimalisation fifty pence coin has been struck with a twist!

The Decimal Day 50p coins IN THE ANNUAL COIN SETS feature the second effigy of Her Majesty The Queen on the obverse (dated 2021). The coins in the single commemorative coins feature the usual fifth effigy.

This portrait was created by Arnold Machin RA for decimalisation to mark the transition and help people identify the new coinage. This nostalgic portrait has been struck for this special anniversary and will only appear on the Decimal Day 50p coins that have been struck for the 2021 Annual Sets.

What is Decimal Day?

Decimal Day in the UK and Ireland was the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pounds, shillings, and pence. Read more about decimalisation here at The Royal Mint Museum.

Taking place on 15th February 1971, before this date in the United Kingdom, the British pound was made up of 20 shillings, each of which was made up of 12 pence, a total of 240 pence.

The commemorative coins mark 50 years since the decimal currency system was formally adopted on February 15, 1971, evolving from pounds, shillings and pence.

Did you know?

Fun Facts:

• The most recent portrait of The Queen was unveiled in 2015, and had to date featured on just under 3 BILLION UK Coins.
• During The Queen’s reign, the circulating coins have featured five different portraits of her.
• Tradition states that the direction in which the head faces should alternate for each successive monarch, therefore Her Majesty faces right because her father (George VI) faced left!
• From Australia to Antigua, Trinidad to Tuvalu, The Queen’s portrait has graced the currencies of 35 different countries — more than any other individual in history! 
  • Canada was the first to use her image in 1935, when it printed the then 9-year-old Princess on its $20 notes.
• Over the course of her reign, The Queen has approved more than 5,000 coin designs: an average of 73 a year.
  • She is sent the final design and a sample coin for approval.
• A commemorative coin was produced by the Royal Mint in 2015 that features the five definitive portraits of HM.