Discover more about the Sherlock Holmes 50p coin
The Royal Mint issued a special Sherlock Holmes 50p in May 2019, to celebrate the 160th anniversary of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birth. The first story involving the character of Sherlock Holmes was published in 1887, and since then Holmes has inspired countless films, video games, radio plays and TV series.
The BBC TV show Sherlock ran from 2010 to 2017 and was hugely popular. The drama was based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories and starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson.
The commemorative 50p coins were made available in Gold proof, Silver Proof, Silver Proof Piedfort and Brilliant Uncirculated versions. Unlike many of the other collectable 50p coins, the Sherlock Holmes 50p was not entered into general circulation, so it's not likely you'll find it in your loose change.
The specification of the coins is as follows:
A new 50p coin celebrating Sherlock Holmes has entered general circulation, meaning the great detective could pop up in your change at any point from now on. If you do find the coin, which bears the deerstalker-and-pipe enthusiast's silhouette, it could be worth more than face value. Rarest 50p coins by mintage. There have been a number of additional commemorative 50ps minted since this table was made, but circulation figures are only available up until 2017. That means, if you have a Paddington Bear 50p or a Sherlock Holmes 50p, there's no way of accurately knowing how rare it truly is. Detailed information about the coin 50 Pence, Elizabeth II (5th Portrait; Sherlock Holmes), United Kingdom, with pictures and collection and swap management: mintage, descriptions, metal, weight, size, value and other numismatic data.
Sherlock Holmes 50p Brilliant Uncirculated Coin
The Royal Mint issued a special Sherlock Holmes 50p in May 2019, to celebrate the 160th anniversary of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birth. The first story involving the character of Sherlock Holmes was published in 1887, and since then Holmes has inspired countless films, video games, radio plays and TV series. The Sherlock Holmes 50p coins were released in 2019 to celebrate 160 years since the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer of the fictional detective series. It has been said that his works revolutionised the crime genre, and the popularity of Sherlock Holmes resulted in Doyle becoming one of the best-paid authors of the time.
- Metal: Cupro-Nickel
- Weight: 8g
- Diameter: 27.30mm
- Mintage: Unlimited
- Retail price: £10
The Gold Proof coin had a mintage of just 400, the Silver Proof coin had a mintage of 6,000, and the Silver Proof Piedfort coin was limited to 2,500 copies. The Royal Mint have now sold out of these special versions of the coin with just the Brilliant Uncirculated – which they describe as 'a higher quality than other coins you'll find in your pocket' – coin still available.
The coin's design, by Stephen Raw, features a silhouette of Holmes wearing his trademark deerstalker hat and smoking a pipe. He is surrounded by the names of his famous cases – and these names can only be read by using a magnifying glass.
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So how rare is the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p coin?
Since the coins have not been put into circulation, the value is fairly straightforward, they are worth the retail price (as shown in the details above). If you do find one in your change you should count yourself lucky and put it aside, as the 50p coins are not intended to be used.
All British numismatists rejoice! The Royal Mint has introduced a new 50p coin to celebrate Britain's favourite detective, Sherlock Holmes. The coin has entered general circulation and what that means is that it can pop up in your change at any given time and any given place. Remember one thing though, in case you stumble upon the coin in your change, the small piece of metal featuring the deerstalker-and-pipe enthusiast's silhouette will be probably worth a lot more than its face value eventually. The total number of coins in circulation has not been revealed by the Royal Mint so it's not possible to guess its scarcity. Let's find out more about the Sherlock Holmes 50p coin and how likely you are to find out about it.
How much is the Sherlock Holmes 50p coin worth?
Earlier in May, multiple versions of the Sherlock Holmes coin became available for purchase on the Royal Mint website to celebrate the 160th anniversary of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birth. The coin has the famous detective's silhouette surrounded by the names of some of his most famous stories.
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The cheapest version was that of an uncirculated coin in a presentation pack. You can still pick it up for £10. More premium versions, such as limited edition silver and gold proof coins, were sold for as much as £795 each before selling out altogether. These collector's coins have since appeared on eBay, though they don't always fetch a lot. One out-of-stock silver proof version of the Sherlock Holmes 50p coin was sold for £85, which is more than what the £55 charged by the Royal Mint. The same coin was also sold at a lower price of £40 on eBay. The brilliant uncirculated version barely fetched a little more than its retail price at £11.50, just £1.50 above what the Royal Mint charged. This was an exception, as it most often sold for less. The circulated version of the coin, however, does have the potential to fetch big figures. But only if there aren't too many of themHowever, that only happens if the number of coins in circulation is low.
Is the Sherlock Holmes 50p Coin rare enough to fetch a good secondary market price?
The most valuable circulated 50p at the moment is the 2009 Kew Gardens coin, which goes for upwards of £100 on eBay. It's worth so much because of its low mintage, only 210,000 entered circulation. In contrast, the 2016 Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit coin was minted over 9 million times. As a result of the huge number in circulation, it was not rare enough to fetch a strong secondary market price since many people can just chance upon it in their change with ease. Since it's impossible to estimate a coin's value without its mintage figures, it's going to be impossible to estimate how much the new Sherlock 50p Coin will be worth in the secondary market. Mintage figures won't be available any time soon. If they end up being scarce, collectors might have to shell out Kew Gardens-level prices. According to coin collection site Change Checker, the Kew Gardens 50p was overlooked for years until official mintage figures were revealed in 2014. At the moment there is no way of knowing whether something similar will happen with the Sherlock Holmes coin. However, if you stumble across it in your change, it's better for you if you keep it with yourself for some time. Change Checker says that with the £10 brilliant uncirculated version still available to purchase collectors would be unlikely to pay more for a circulation-quality Sherlock Holmes 50p coin.
Sherlock Holmes 50p Ebay
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Are there some other 50p coins to watch out for?
Sherlock Holmes Memorabilia
The Royal Mint has already released at least four new commemorative 50ps coins and coin sets this year – one of them even commemorated other commemorative 50ps. In March, the Mint released a Stephen Hawking 50p to celebrate the influential scientist, and a full-colour Peter Rabbit 50p – following the 2016 line of non-colour Beatrix Potter character coins. After Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit coins, the Royal Mint decided to celebrate more children's literature with Julia Donaldson's Gruffalo earning its own 50p in February. The Sherlock Holmes 50p coin differs a little from the other coins because it is the only one that has entered circulation thus far. So the only way you can find them is if a collector who bought them from the Royal Mint actually goes on to accidentally spend one for buying something. For the most part, you'll have to buy them online to add them to your collection. There are, however, a number of rare 50ps which are in circulation that you could very well end up finding. The 2017 Sir Isaac Newton coin is the second rarest coin in circulation after the Kew Gardens coin. The circulated version appears to have sold for a range of prices between £1.04 and £3.99 on eBay recently. A lot of the coins which commemorate the 2012 London Olympics also usually sell at higher than face value. One of the funniest and most valuable coins on sale is the one that ‘explains' football's offside rule in a humorous way. There is another important fact that you need to remember, all eBay listings shouldn't be taken very seriously. A lot of times, sellers inflate by setting a high starting bid. They can also secretly inflate the price by bidding on their own products. Always remember, a rare coin's worth is eventually decided by what a collector is ready to pay for it. Just because you put your rare 50p coin for sale, doesn't mean you can make money on it. Similarly, even if the Sherlock Holmes 50p coin ends up being rare, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will be ridiculously expensive to pick up from the secondary market.
