Why are new 50p pieces so popular?

[Zhorro]

On Thursday the new gold and silver versions of the Samuel Pepys £2 coin were released.  Despite the prices and mintages being similar to recent 50p issues (there were only 225 gold Pepys £2 [with a max issue of 350]), there seemed to be hardly any interest in the precious metal versions of the Pepys £2 (the gold £2 is still available at the Royal Mint three days after release).  There was certainly nothing like the near hysteria which surrounded the recent releases of the Peter Rabbit, Stephen Hawking, Gruffalo, and Snowman, 50p coins.

Which leads to my question, why are the 50p pieces so popular?

Is it the designs/subjects on the £2 coins that are not as popular?  The Pepys design may not be brilliant, but there have been some good £2 designs (e.g. the 2015 Royal Navy Battleship, the 2015 Magna Carta, and the 2017 Jane Austen), but as a collectable coin, the £2 does not seem to be anywhere near as popular as the 50p.

So, are the £2 precious metal coins “sleepers”, are the 50p coins over-hyped, or is there something else?

[Gildeon]

The unique shape maybe...?

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

I think its the press. The 50p coins have been hyped for so long with examples like the original Kew Gardens constantly being written about. There are also sets like the various olympic ones. The more something is talked about and imprinted on people the more likely it is people will take interest.

There is also the element that everyone wants to be in on the next big thing. There have been several 50p coins that have done well and again these are widely publicized.

Other releases just don't have the same kind of buzz created (rightly or wrongly) from history and publicity.

[daz]

Personally I think the arse will fall out of the 50p and 2 quid coin market , I used to collect them but have given up as the royal mint is pushing out too many designs , some of which are admitidly very nice , (raf ones etc) but the majority of them will never see the light of day in circulation so to me they are just a collectors issue coin.  I think the general public will get bored of keep shelling out for these multiple releases as the price of even the bu's released every year adds up to quite a bit.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Zhorro said:

On Thursday the new gold and silver versions of the Samuel Pepys £2 coin were released.  Despite the prices and mintages being similar to recent 50p issues (there were only 225 gold Pepys £2 [with a max issue of 350]), there seemed to be hardly any interest in the precious metal versions of the Pepys £2 (the gold £2 is still available at the Royal Mint three days after release).  There was certainly nothing like the near hysteria which surrounded the recent releases of the Peter Rabbit, Stephen Hawking, Gruffalo, and Snowman, 50p coins.

Which leads to my question, why are the 50p pieces so popular?

Is it the designs/subjects on the £2 coins that are not as popular?  The Pepys design may not be brilliant, but there have been some good £2 designs (e.g. the 2015 Royal Navy Battleship, the 2015 Magna Carta, and the 2017 Jane Austen), but as a collectable coin, the £2 does not seem to be anywhere near as popular as the 50p.

So, are the £2 precious metal coins “sleepers”, are the 50p coins over-hyped, or is there something else?

The Two Pound denomination has always been the underdog and I’m not sure they are sleepers either. Personally I don’t like most of the designs. There is no history of even one coin doing well and no real established collector base.

Is the 50p so much better? There is a stronger collector  following mainly because of the hype surrounding the 2009 Kew Gardens 50 pence.  The designs of recent 50p pieces have tended to be popular because of the wider customer base for licensed products. Even here however there is a big danger of saturation by the royal mint  with too many releases to close to each other.  

The market demand for the recent Stephen Hawking 50p in gold is clearly significantly higher than the Beatrix Potter Peter rabbit 2019 in gold. Mintage is 100 coins higher for the Rabbit but customers who want rabbits have them as far as I can see.

To me the £2 gold is similar to the 1/4oz USA Commemorative format and most of these coins no matter how low mintage will be spot + in 5 years time. 

The sweet spot is VERY limited mintage releases and sovereigns though even with Sovereigns the mint has been milking it.

 

[Martlet]

Personally I dont like the two tone and that has put me off buying some designs I like.  May be a factor for others, the general buzz around 50p is high though and creates an interest and market.

It is something to consider if the £2 will be the better pick very long term (generations), with low mintage and low interest. 

[Mark43]

Had a letter from Westminster coins/Change checker stating any new release BU 50p coins will be going up to £4.99 ea from £3.99 ea.

Wish my salary would go up by 25% .

 

[Piggybank]

Hi have sold more than 14000 Olympic coins in the last 3 years. The other 50p's and most of the £2 are doing badly. 

This week I am going to revamp my ebay and get rid of the ones not selling and maybe put on more stock not (silver or gold)

I can envisage I will not have an Ebay business in a year or two unless I come up with some ideas

Ebay username is piggybank38

[sixgun]

i have never got involved with these coins - my instincts tell me to avoid - 50p coins with a cat, a frog, water swirling round a plug hole or whatever, they smack of a trick. Will they have legs? They seem lame to me. If you can make something out of them - good luck and then buy some proper coins.

[richatthecroft]

1 hour ago, sixgun said:

i have never got involved with these coins - my instincts tell me to avoid - 50p coins with a cat, a frog, water swirling round a plug hole or whatever, they smack of a trick. Will they have legs? They seem lame to me. If you can make something out of them - good luck and then buy some proper coins.

I guess 'beauty lies in the eye of the beholder' or 'one man's meat is another man's poison' and a plethora of other sayings or euphemisms could come into play here.  Certainly, some of the 50p releases leave a lot to be desired but this could be said in a lot of differing coin releases from not only the Royal Mint but worldwide producers. 

Here's a fantastic collection of 50p's- I certainly would welcome not one, but all of these 50p coins into my collection.  

 

[sixgun]

My issue is not the coins - but the hype surrounding them. For example the Stephen Hawking plug hole coin - there is a hype - people selling their children to get a look in. Standing back it is i will say a bit of tat for the melting pot. Perhaps a few will have sustained momentum but i suspect the majority will fall to Earth to crash and burn. Time will tell.

[richatthecroft]

18 minutes ago, sixgun said:

My issue is not the coins - but the hype surrounding them.

Point taken- and unfortunately in my fuddy- duddy old fashioned world  I would agree, and there are so many ‘proper’ coins to consider than say, a Gruffalo. 

However, it’s 2019 and hype and superficial nonsense on social media etc.  is unfortunately, the order of the day.  It appears that people need to be spoon fed and told what to like. 

It’s incredible to think that it’s now possible to market oneself as a social media influencer and roll out of bed and talk twaddle about just about any product, place or service and get paid for doing so- sometimes three times over- by companies who’s product it is, by actually receiving and getting to keep the product and then by people clicking on a YouTube feed that in turn generates an income...

I digress, like it or not the Royal Mint needs to generate cash to keep afloat and if it means that they only produce the odd coin of merit in among some run of the mill releases, then I’ll take that scenario rather than there be no Royal Mint. 

I personally think the ‘plug hole’ coin referred to is a nice, understated depiction of the subject matter and a nice start to the first in the series of celebrating innovators in science. 

The UK needs reminding of its innovative past to spur on its youth to think about being innovative- but it appears some need no inspiration- and have devised ways to make a nice bit of cash by doing very little except to influence the people and draw them into hype...

I do hope that I manage to gather  all I want to collect, before the Sovereign gets hyped up any further. 

[sixgun]

2 minutes ago, richatthecroft said:

The UK needs reminding of its innovative past to spur on its youth to think about being innovative-

i don't think the plug hole was a British innovation. i don't think these over boosted coins will spur the youth to be innovative - this is part of the hollow hype.

[sovereignsteve]

8 hours ago, Zhorro said:

there seemed to be hardly any interest in the precious metal versions of the Pepys £2 (the gold £2 is still available at the Royal Mint three days after release).  There was certainly nothing like the near hysteria which surrounded the recent releases of the Peter Rabbit, Stephen Hawking, Gruffalo, and Snowman, 50p coins.

The popular kiddies stuff will continue to do well in the near term as people all remember the first Peter Rabbit coin and will continue to chase a profit. Buyers can always give these coins to their kids and grandkids as well. I don't think there are enough real collectors of these coloured 50p coins to support the massive mintages the Mint is throwing out.

Re: the gold versions; again there isn't the hard core collector base for these, the fact they are selling out quickly is all down to flippers and people chasing a quick profit. The telling sign is how quickly they sell out at the mint and how quickly prices on ebay come down from the dizzy heights to issue level.

[Caratacus]

The furry animal 50p hype is a good thing for coin collectors generally as it has re-awakened an interest in kids to collect something that is at pocket money level, has a current value, offers awareness of stacking and collecting generally; collecting coins brings an interest in history, geography, metallurgy, social negotiation, managing your cash (literally) and best of all avoids celebrities... My two little girls have just spent the first two days of school hols hassling shops (social skills) for interesting 50p's (at my expense) - & people have been helpfully sifting their cashmachines for them!!  (I hope they don't start selling lucky heather as their next enterprise)