Atlantic Salmon 50p (2023 to 2026)

The Atlantic Salmon 50p is unusual because a coin from change can be worth more than a brilliant uncirculated one, and the privy mark is the reason. The 2023 circulation strike, with a clean field and no mark, is the scarce coin, and even a worn example sells well above face value. The 2023 set and pack coins with the Tudor crown were made for collectors and are easier to find. Coins dated 2025 are common, so the date and the privy mark matter more than condition.

With 2,200,000 struck for circulation, the Atlantic Salmon 50p is the 35th rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 80th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Scarce band, for mintages 1,000,000 to 2,499,999.

The next rarer 50p is the Aquatics 50p, with 2,179,000 struck, and the next more common is the Athletics 50p, with 2,224,000 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 2023, with 200,000 struck.

The leaping salmon on the right and the interlinked C pattern behind 50 PENCE on the left identify the design. For value, check two things. First the date on the heads side: a 2023 coin is the one collectors want, while 2025 coins were made in far greater numbers. Then look in the field for a tiny Tudor crown. The 2023 circulation strike has no privy mark, so a crown means the coin came from a collector set or pack. The 2026 Royal Mint Experience coin has a privy mark of its own.

Known varieties of the Atlantic Salmon 50p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• Tudor crown privy mark: 2023 coins in the brilliant uncirculated definitive set, proof sets and first-strike packs carry a small Tudor crown privy mark; the circulation strike does not.
• 2026 Royal Mint Experience privy mark: A 2026 strike carries a privy mark for the 10th anniversary of the Royal Mint Experience.

King Charles III's coins brought new reverses for all eight circulating denominations as well as his portrait, replacing the Royal Shield designs used since 2008. The new set celebrates the natural world, and the 50p went to the Atlantic salmon. The design, credited to The Royal Mint, shows a salmon leaping clear of the water on the right of the coin. On the left, 50 and PENCE are set over a pattern of interlinked letter C shapes, a Royal Cypher motif for the King. The heads side carries Martin Jennings' portrait of the King. The 2023 coin entered circulation on 27 November 2023 with no privy mark, while 2023 coins in brilliant uncirculated sets, proof sets and first-strike packs add a small Tudor crown. None were struck for circulation in 2024, a far larger run followed in 2025, and a 2026 strike marks the tenth anniversary of the Royal Mint Experience with its own privy mark.