R 10p: Robin

The robin 10p sells for more than most letters, and the 2019 date is the one to look for: its circulation run was one of the smallest of any 2019 letter and well below the 2018 run. Condition matters as well. Sharp snowflakes, a detailed robin and bright fields lift the price, while a scuffed coin from change sits lower. Uncirculated coins still in their Royal Mint card or pouch fetch the most.

With 284,000 struck for circulation, the R 10p (Robin) is the fourth rarest of the 30 ranked 10p designs and has the sixth 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 W 10p (World Wide Web), with 283,000 struck, and the next more common is the Q 10p (Queuing), with 303,000 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 2019, with 64,000 struck.

A small robin perched in the loop of a large R, with snow on the letter and snowflakes around it, is the R 10p. For the year, look to the Queen's side, where it follows TEN PENCE in her legend; the robin side has no numbers at all. The winter scene is the same whichever year the coin carries.

R for Robin gives the Royal Mint's 2018 alphabet a winter scene, and the verse for the letter has the robin guiding travellers through the cold and snow. The Royal Mint calls the robin the UK's official favourite bird, at home in gardens, parks, hedges and woods, and a regular on Christmas cards. It was once linked with bad luck, and the Royal Mint notes that a few people still refuse to send cards that show one. For all its friendly reputation, the robin is fiercely territorial and will drive other robins off its patch. On the coin the bird perches inside the upper loop of a large serif R, its round body shown side-on and facing left. Snow lies along the top of the letter and on the ground at its foot, and snowflakes of different sizes surround it. The Royal Mint credits it to The Royal Mint Team.

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