M 10p: Mackintosh

What a Mackintosh 10p fetches depends on its year and how well it has survived. The later date is the scarcer one, so a 2019 coin usually carries a premium over a 2018. The folds of the coat and the thin rain lines are fine details that wear away in change; a coin with them still crisp is worth more than a smooth, worn example. The best prices go to uncirculated coins that the Royal Mint sold in cards or pouches.

With 304,000 struck for circulation, the M 10p (Mackintosh) 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.

A long coat with the wearer's hands clasped in front, rain falling at the top and a capital M on the left mark out the Mackintosh 10p. The design has no inscription besides the M. Turn it over for the date: the Queen's portrait is ringed by her titles, then TEN PENCE and 2018 or 2019. Nothing on the raincoat side tells the two years apart. It is the same size and silver colour as an everyday 10p.

M stands for the Mackintosh in the Royal Mint's 2018 alphabet, a nod to Britain's weather; the verse for the letter admits that Scotland seldom stays dry for long. The waterproof coat takes its name from Charles Macintosh, a Glasgow chemist, and was first sold in the 1820s. His cloth held rubber and naphtha inside two sheets of fabric, and the Royal Mint notes that the first coats could melt in summer heat until the material was improved. The name is spelt both Macintosh and Mackintosh, and the coin's title uses the version with a k. The design shows the coat itself, worn by a figure whose head is out of view above the rim, hands clasped at the waist and the long coat falling in heavy folds. Rain falls on both sides of the figure, running in streaks along the top left and in drops at the top right, and a tall serif M stands on the left. It is credited to The Royal Mint Team.

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