A 10p: Angel of the North

The A 10p sells for more than most letters in the alphabet set, and the 2019 date usually fetches a little more than 2018 because far fewer 2019 coins were struck for circulation. Condition decides the rest. A coin from change with scuffs across the Angel's wings sits at the bottom of the range, while an uncirculated coin still sealed in its Royal Mint card or pouch sits at the top.

With 304,000 struck for circulation, the A 10p (Angel of the North) is the joint sixth rarest of the 30 ranked 10p designs and has the joint eighth lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Very rare band, for mintages under 500,000.

The next rarer 10p is the Q 10p (Queuing), with 303,000 struck, and the next more common is the Capercaillie 10p, with 7,100,000 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 2019, with 84,000 struck.

Look on the tails side for a tall standing figure with long, ribbed wings and a capital A beside it. There is no value or date on that side, so turn the coin over: the legend around the Queen's portrait ends TEN PENCE 2018 or TEN PENCE 2019, and that date is the only thing that separates the two issues. In size, weight and colour the Angel of the North 10p is an ordinary modern 10p, which is why it hides so easily in a handful of change.

In 2018 the Royal Mint launched the Great British Coin Hunt, a Quintessentially British A to Z told across 26 new 10p designs, and gave the letter A to the Angel of the North. Antony Gormley's sculpture was unveiled on 16 February 1998 at the gateway to the North East, and the Royal Mint calls it the UK's biggest sculpture and quite possibly the biggest angel anywhere. Its Cor-ten steel is made to stand up to the weather. On the coin the Angel stands on the right, its ribbed wings stretching out behind a large serif A on the left. That letter is the only lettering on the tails side. The Royal Mint's verse for the letter starts the alphabet's journey here, at the Angel. The Royal Mint credits the design to The Royal Mint Team.

It was one of the 26 coins in the A to Z set issued in 2018.