The Beatrix Potter 50p coin, also known as the Beatrix Potter portrait 50p, is one of 13 coins dedicated to the works of Beatrix Potter – but how much is this coin worth today?
The Beatrix Potter 50p coin has an average sale price of £1.20 according to the most recent values on eBay in 2022. Uncirculated versions, such as silver and gold proof editions, are much more valuable.
It can be confusing to get your head around all the different Beatrix Potter 50p coins, so keep reading to learn more about the series and specifically the flagship Beatrix Potter portrait 50p.
How Many Beatrix Potter 50p Coins Are There?
The 2016 Beatrix Potter 50p coin has a mintage of almost 7 million with 6,900,000 minted and is one of 13 coins in the Beatrix Potter 50p collection.
We’ll jump into how rare this makes the coin shortly, but let’s first take a look at the uncirculated versions of this coin that were released alongside the circulating issue.
The Royal Mint releases uncirculated versions of commemorative 50ps, and you can find the different versions of the Beatrix Potter 50p below:
| Version | Mintage |
| Brilliant Uncirculated (Individual and in sets) | 125,085 |
| SIlver Proof | 7,471 |
| SIlver Proof Piedfort | 2,486 |
| Gold Proof | 732 |
Is the Beatrix Potter 50p Coin Rare?
Given the mintage of the Beatrix Potter 50p, it is not considered very rare at all.
6,900,000 is quite a substantial amount for a 50p, which means that the coin is not scarce and is instead quite common to come across in your change.
The Beatrix Potter 50p collection is one of the most popular series that the Royal Mint has released, and the portrait 50p was one of the very first coins issued into circulation in the series. The list below shows all of the collection in chronological order:
- 2016 Beatrix Potter
- 2016 Peter Rabbit
- 2016 Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle
- 2016 Squirrel Nutkin
- 2016 Jemima Puddle-Duck
- 2017 Tale of Peter Rabbit
- 2017 Mr. Jeremy Fisher
- 2017 Tom Kitten
- 2017 Benjamin Bunny
- 2018 Peter Rabbit
- 2018 Flopsy Bunny
- 2018 The Tailor of Gloucester
- 2018 Mrs. Tittlemouse
The Beatrix Potter portrait 50p coin pays tribute to the life of Beatrix Potter by featuring her portrait and elements from her work. The Beatrix Potter coin is the only coin in the series that does not directly feature a character from Potter’s tales.
The 50 Pence series included coins to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter as follows in chronological order:
Celebrating Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter was a famous writer of children’s books that included a much-loved character named Peter Rabbit.
Her characters stemmed from her love for nature and got their start as she and her brother designed images to illustrate verses in A Happy Pair. After seeing how successful her drawings were, she decided to publish her own illustrations and stories.
As an author, she self-published her first of thirty books in 1902.
Design and Meaning Behind the Beatrix Potter 50p
The coin was designed to celebrate Beatrix Potter as the author and illustrator of her popular children’s books. In addition to the standard 50p designs, several reverse designs have been minted on the 50p coin to commemorate important events.
The 2016 50p is part of those designed as a special commemorative coin. This one was put into circulation and marked 2018. It consists of a Cupronickel alloy with an 8.00g weight, a diameter of 27.3mm, and it is 1.78mm thick.
Reverse Image Design
The first coin in the series to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix featured Beatrix Potter herself.
On the reverse side of the coin is a portrait silhouette of Beatrix Potter centred above her name in all caps and a font reflective of literature. Her name is in all caps with BEATRIX on top and POTTER centred below.
Underneath are the dates of her birth and death, 1866-1943. Peter Rabbit is centred below that with his ears popping up in between the dates instead of a dash. To the left and right of the design are decorative flowers and vines symbolic of illustrations from her works.
The image was designed by Emma Noble. Her initials are in lower case on the lower right of the coin’s reverse side.
Emma Noble had designed the 2015 coins to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter. When the Royal Mint issued additional Beatrix Potter coins in 2016, Emma Noble was again chosen to design them. Her designs were once again seen on 2017 and 2018 coins, including the Beatrix Potter 50p, and others like the 2018 Peter Rabbit 50p and Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p. Her designs were also featured on the 2019 collector edition Peter Rabbit coin.
Emma Noble had worked at the Royal Mint for 20 years before she was chosen to design the Beatrix Potter series of coins. She had previously worked on pieces commemorating the Diamond Jubilee and Remembrance Sunday.
What Is The Most Valuable 50p Of The Beatrix Potter Collection?
You may think that the lowest mintage 50p of the collection would be worth the most, but this is surprisingly not the case with the Beatrix Potter coins.
According to average values, the Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p is the most valuable with an average selling price of £8.84.
The exact reason for this is not clear, but it seems that collectors are willing to pay well above average for this coin in particular.
How Much Is The Beatrix Potter Collection Worth?
If you look only at average values on eBay for each coin (circulated only) then the entire series is worth around £34.
On eBay, you can expect to pay between £30 and £50 for the entire set, and over £100 for the entire set in brilliant uncirculated finish.