The Mary Anning Collection VALUE GUIDE
Complete list of the mary anning collection coins with mintage figures and current values
The Mary Anning Collection: the 50p dinosaur coins that tell a bigger story
The Royal Mint’s Mary Anning Collection (2021) turns three extraordinary prehistoric creatures into a pocket-sized tribute to the woman who helped change how we understand deep time. These aren’t “dinosaurs-in-your-change” coins so much as a miniature museum exhibit—celebrating discovery, evidence, and a brilliant mind working against the gravity of her era.
What is “The Mary Anning Collection”?
The Mary Anning Collection is a three-coin UK 50p series issued by The Royal Mint, featuring prehistoric animals connected to Mary Anning’s fossil discoveries on England’s Jurassic Coast. The Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) three-coin series brings together: Temnodontosaurus, Plesiosaurus, and Dimorphodon.
- Royal Mint: The Mary Anning Collection BU three-coin series (Archive)
- Temnodontosaurus 50p (Archive)
- Plesiosaurus 50p (Archive)
- Dimorphodon 50p (Archive)
Each coin acts like a chapter marker: a creature on one side, and (behind the scenes) the story of the person who found, prepared, interpreted, and sold fossils in a world that often treated her as a supplier—not a scientist.
Mary Anning: a life on the cliffs (1799–1847)
Mary Anning was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset—a coastal town whose landslides and wave-cut cliffs expose fossils from the Early Jurassic. After her father died leaving the family in debt, Mary turned fossil hunting into survival and then into expertise: finding specimens, cleaning them, reconstructing them, and building a reputation that drew visitors to her shop.
Fossil hunting wasn’t a hobby for her—it was a livelihood conducted in harsh weather, on unstable cliffs, with a constant timer ticking: the sea can reclaim a specimen in hours.
Learn more about her early life and work: Geological Society: Mary Anning (1799–1847) and Natural History Museum: Mary Anning, the unsung hero of fossil discovery.
Discoveries that helped rewrite Earth’s history
Mary Anning’s finds arrived at a moment when geology and palaeontology were still forming their rules. Her discoveries helped push scientists to accept uncomfortable ideas: extinction is real, ancient life was stranger than anyone imagined, and Earth’s story stretches vastly beyond human history.
- Ichthyosaur skeleton (1811–1812) — An early “celebrity fossil” that became a lightning rod for public curiosity and scientific debate. NHM overview
- Plesiosaurus (December 1823) — A complete skeleton so bizarre that some experts suspected fraud; the debate reached the Geological Society, where Mary herself was not invited. NHM: “Controversial find”
- Dimorphodon (December 1828) — The first pterosaur discovered outside Germany, bringing a “winged reptile” into Britain’s scientific imagination. NHM: “Winged creature”
For a museum-angled deep dive into her discoveries, the American Museum of Natural History has a clear overview: AMNH: Mary Anning – Famed Fossil Hunter.
Science in an age of male dominance (and why her story matters)
The “gentleman scientist” culture of the early 1800s rewarded those with status, money, and institutional access. Mary Anning had none of those advantages. She was a working-class woman—brilliant, self-taught, and operating outside the clubs and societies where scientific credit was minted (pun absolutely intended).
Even as experts relied on her field knowledge, she faced systematic barriers: she wasn’t welcomed into the formal scientific world, wasn’t admitted to the Geological Society of London in her lifetime, and was too often under-credited in papers written by men who bought or studied the fossils she discovered and prepared. The Natural History Museum’s account lays this out plainly, including how her plesiosaur sparked debate at the Geological Society while she was excluded. Read the NHM story.
The result is a familiar historical glitch: the evidence bears her fingerprints, but the footnotes didn’t. The Mary Anning Collection is, in part, a correction—a public-facing acknowledgement that the person on the cliffs was not merely a supplier, but a contributor to scientific understanding.
Why these three creatures?
Each coin in the Mary Anning Collection points to a moment where the coastline delivered something the world wasn’t ready for. Together, they work like a “three-act play” of prehistoric life—sea predator, sea marvel, sky creature.
- Temnodontosaurus — A powerful ichthyosaur associated with early Jurassic marine fossil beds. Royal Mint archive page
- Plesiosaurus — The “near-reptile” that triggered controversy, skepticism, and eventually recognition of how strange ancient life could be. Royal Mint archive page
- Dimorphodon — A dramatic leap from sea to sky: the winged reptile that widened the public’s imagination of prehistoric ecosystems. Royal Mint archive page
For a simple “all UK 50p coin specs + design listings” page that also shows these designs, see: Royal Mint: 50p designs and specifications.
Learn more: resources worth your time
- Natural History Museum: Mary Anning – the unsung hero of fossil discovery (excellent on her discoveries, skepticism she faced, and credit issues)
- Geological Society: Mary Anning (Women and Geology exhibition) (context, timeline, and how institutions viewed her work)
- Lyme Regis Museum: Mary Anning collection page (local history, museum context, and ways to explore her story on-site)
- Lyme Regis Museum: “Mary Anning Walks” (walk her landscape—where science literally fell out of the cliffs)
- American Museum of Natural History: Mary Anning – Famed Fossil Hunter (great overview, especially for younger readers or quick context)
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History: Mary Anning’s Ichthyosaur (a specific specimen-focused look at her continuing scientific legacy)
Note: The Mary Anning Collection is a modern commemorative/collector series. Always verify variant (BU, colour, silver proof, etc.) when researching values or comparing listings.
