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The Nutcracker £5 Coin

Cupro-nickel BU 2018 £5  Share This Coin:
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The Nutcracker £5 Coin - Reverse - 2018 UK £5 Coin
Market Value
£11.00

Coin Specifications

Denomination
£5
Year
2018
Metal
Cupro-nickel
Finish
BU
Weight
28.28 g
Diameter
38.61 mm
Obverse
Jody Clark
Reverse
Harry Brockway

How much is the The Nutcracker £5 Coin worth?

The current market value for the The Nutcracker £5 Coin is estimated at £11.00. Values can vary based on condition and demand.

The Nutcracker £5 Coin Images

High-quality images of the 2018 The Nutcracker £5 Coin showing obverse, packaging, and design details. Click any image to view full size.

The Nutcracker £5 Coin Obverse - 2018 UK £5 Coin Head Side
Obverse (Heads)
Designed by Jody Clark
The obverse (heads side) of the 2018 £5 coin featuring the portrait designed by Jody Clark .
The Nutcracker £5 Coin Packaging - 2018 UK £5 Coin Presentation Pack
Packaging
Official presentation packaging
The The Nutcracker £5 Coin comes in official Royal Mint packaging, preserving the coin's condition and authenticity with presentation-ready display.

Tip: Click any image to view it in full size. All images show the actual 2018 The Nutcracker £5 Coin as issued by The Royal Mint, helping you identify genuine coins and understand their design features.

Coin Description

🎄 2018 Nutcracker £5 – Quick Summary

At a Glance

  • What it commemorates: The story and ballet of The Nutcracker, issued as the official 2018 UK Christmas £5.
  • Design: Four toy soldiers and four ballerinas in a circle by Harry Brockway, with the legend “CHRISTMAS 2018 THE NUTCRACKER”; obverse by Jody Clark.
  • Specs: Cupro-nickel £5, 28.28 g, 38.61 mm, reeded edge, Brilliant Uncirculated finish, not struck for circulation.
  • Output: BU-only coin; sales records suggest total BU numbers in the tens of thousands, across Christmas cards, tubes, advent calendars and a limited “strike your own” run.
  • Value: Recent guides and retail listings put typical BU value around £10–£15, with original presentation (card/pack) often in the mid-teens.
  • Why collectors like it: Strong seasonal theme, attractive circular figure arrangement, and a clear tie-in to a much-loved Christmas ballet make it a popular modern festive £5.

About This Coin

🎄 2018 Christmas Nutcracker £5 – Brilliant Uncirculated
Official 2018 UK Christmas £5 coin in Brilliant Uncirculated quality, featuring a Nutcracker ballet scene with toy soldiers and ballerinas. A non-circulating festive crown, sold in Christmas card packs, capsules, stocking sets and strike-your-own packaging rather than released into change.

Coin Summary & Key Facts (BU Version)

The Christmas Nutcracker 2018 UK £5 Brilliant Uncirculated Coin celebrates the classic Nutcracker story and its association with Christmas. Designed by Harry Brockway, the reverse shows four toy soldiers and four ballerinas in a circular dance, with the legend “CHRISTMAS 2018 THE NUTCRACKER”. The coin was not struck for circulation – every example is a collector piece sold in Brilliant Uncirculated or proof form.

📊 Key Figures – Brilliant Uncirculated £5

Core specifications and reference values for the 2018 Nutcracker £5 BU coin.

Aspect Figure BU-specific notes
Denomination £5 (Five Pounds) Crown-sized UK commemorative £5, issued as non-circulating legal tender.
Year of issue 2018 Released as the official 2018 Christmas coin.
Alloy, weight & diameter Alloy: Cupro-nickel
Weight: 28.28 g
Diameter: 38.61 mm 		Standard modern base-metal £5 specification with a reeded edge.
Circulation status Not struck for circulation No circulation mintage; all coins were sold in collector presentations such as Christmas cards, capsules and stocking sets.
BU output (approx.) Low tens of thousands (BU only) Sales data indicate roughly 26–27k coins in Christmas card packs, around 10.5k in tubes, about 2k in advent calendars, plus just under 4k “strike your own” pieces at The Royal Mint Experience – giving a total BU output in the region of forty-plus thousand coins.
Strike-your-own sales 3,863 Official Royal Mint museum figures show 3,863 Nutcracker £5 coins struck as “strike your own” between 19 November and 31 December 2018.
Obverse Designer: Jody Clark
Portrait: Fifth definitive portrait of Queen Elizabeth II 		Legend reads “ELIZABETH II · D · G · REG · FID · DEF · 5 POUNDS ·”.
Reverse Designer: Harry Brockway
Design: Ballerinas and Nutcracker soldiers 		Shows four toy soldiers and four ballerinas in a circle, with the inscription “CHRISTMAS 2018 THE NUTCRACKER”.
Edge Reeded Standard milled edge for a base-metal £5; no additional inscription.
Original BU issue price Low-to-mid teens (£) Contemporary BU Christmas card packs were priced in the mid-teens; later dealer listings still cluster around this level.
Current guide value (BU) ≈ £10–£15 Recent price guides and retail listings suggest around £10 for a loose BU coin and £14–£17 for examples in original presentation.
💡 Collector Notes – Nutcracker BU £5

The 2018 Nutcracker £5 is basically a Christmas card you can stack in an album. It ties together ballet, festive imagery and the long-running tradition of gifting coins at Christmas.

  • Story & theme: The coin celebrates Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, itself based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The ballet follows Clara, her Nutcracker soldier, an evil Mouse King and a trip to a magical doll kingdom – hence the mix of soldiers and ballerinas on the reverse.
  • Design details: Harry Brockway’s reverse shows:
    • four Nutcracker toy soldiers,
    • four ballerinas,
    • a circular composition that feels like a dance around the coin’s centre,
    • the legend CHRISTMAS 2018 THE NUTCRACKER around the edge of the design.
    In hand, the repeated figures give the coin a very “wreath-like” feel.
  • Presentation formats: The BU Nutcracker £5 appeared in several forms:
    • a gold-foiled Christmas greetings card,
    • capsuled BU coins sold by dealers,
    • an advent calendar with the coin behind one of the doors,
    • an official Christmas stocking set,
    • a limited “strike your own” version at The Royal Mint Experience.
    The coin itself is the same BU strike across these, but packaging scarcity can affect prices.
  • Non-circulating status: This is a purely collector-facing issue – it never went into tills or change. Any “found in change” stories are almost certainly confusion with other £5s or private transactions, not genuine circulation.
  • Where it sits among modern £5s: Within the late-Elizabeth II base-metal £5 range, Nutcracker is:
    • a seasonal design (like other Christmas issues),
    • moderate-mintage by BU standards (tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands),
    • popular with both coin collectors and people who just love Christmas / ballet themes.
  • What to look for (BU condition):
    • sharp detail on the soldiers’ uniforms and the ballerinas’ tutus,
    • clean, bright fields with minimal scuffing, especially in the open areas,
    • fully readable reverse legend and a clear obverse portrait of Queen Elizabeth II,
    • intact, uncreased packaging if you’re buying a Christmas-card or stocking version.

Mintage Figures (Coin Sales Records From The Royal Mint)

The Christmas Nutcracker 2018 UK £5 Sales
The Christmas Nutcracker 2018 UK £5 Brilliant Uncirculated Coin 26,900
The Christmas Nutcracker 2018 UK £5 Brilliant Uncirculated Coin - In Tubes 10,498
The Royal Mint Advent Calendar 1,939
Total 39,337

Overall, the 2018 Christmas Nutcracker £5 Brilliant Uncirculated coin is a festive modern crown that combines a classic Christmas ballet with a relatively compact BU output – a nice seasonal anchor in any collection of modern £5 pieces.