75 Years of the NHS 50p (2023)

No 2023 NHS 50p was issued for circulation, so every example is a brilliant uncirculated or proof coin and there is no circulated price. Value rests on condition and packaging: a coin still sealed in its original pack is worth more than a loose one, and the small, closely packed lettering shows any handling marks clearly. A coin taken out of a 2023 commemorative set sells as a loose coin, and the silver and gold proofs are priced as separate collector pieces.

The 75 Years of the NHS 50p was not issued for circulation, so it has no rarity rank.

A 50p covered edge to edge in words, with GRATITUDE at the top, KNOWLEDGE at the bottom and the number seventy-five in the middle, is the 2023 NHS coin. The heads side shows King Charles III. Do not confuse it with the 1998 NHS 50p, which shows a pair of hands against radiating lines, with the letters NHS around the border and the Queen on the heads side. The 2023 coin was sold only to collectors, so it is not found in change.

The National Health Service launched on 5 July 1948. It was the brainchild of Aneurin Bevan, then Minister of Health, and it set out to give people across the UK the care they need without charging the patient. For its 75th anniversary in 2023, The Royal Mint issued a 50p designed by Alice Lediard, and it has no picture at all. Instead, words used to describe the NHS fill the coin in horizontal lines: GRATITUDE at the top, then DEDICATION, PRIDE, CARE, NATIONAL, KIND, DIGNITY, HEALTH, HOPE, RESPECT, SERVICE, LIFE, EMPATHY, SUPPORT, COMPASSION and DUTY, with KNOWLEDGE at the foot. The number seventy-five sits among them, between EMPATHY and SUPPORT. Lediard's initials AL are on the same side, and the heads side carries Martin Jennings' portrait of King Charles III. The coin first appeared in the 2023 commemorative coin sets and was sold on its own from 1 June 2023, in brilliant uncirculated quality and as silver and gold proofs.