Benjamin Bunny 50p (2017)

With the highest circulation mintage of the Beatrix Potter series, Benjamin Bunny is plentiful, and a worn coin from change carries little premium. Well-preserved examples with a sharp hat and face do better, and uncirculated coins sold in Royal Mint packaging are priced far above circulated ones. Collectors completing the 2017 set or the full series keep demand steady, and the coloured silver proof has a separate price.

With 25,000,000 struck for circulation, the Benjamin Bunny 50p is the 76th rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 155th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.

The next rarer 50p is the Peter Rabbit 50p, with 19,900,000 struck, and the next more common is the EEC Hands 50p, with 89,775,000 struck.

The hat gives it away: Benjamin faces forward wearing a tam-o'-shanter that is far too large for him, and his figure divides BENJAMIN BUNNY around the rim. Do not mix him up with the 2018 Flopsy Bunny, another rabbit facing forward, whose coin reads FLOPSY BUNNY. Turn it over for the 2017 date; a coloured version is a silver proof.

Benjamin Bunny was the last of four Beatrix Potter 50ps that The Royal Mint issued in 2017, going on sale in September. He completed a year that had begun with Peter Rabbit and continued with Mr Jeremy Fisher and Tom Kitten. Benjamin is Peter Rabbit's cousin and gives his name to The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. Emma Noble drew him from Potter's illustrations facing forward, with the tam-o'-shanter that sits far too big on his head, and set him in the centre so that he breaks the words BENJAMIN BUNNY running round the edge. Noble's initials en appear on the reverse. On the obverse are the date and Jody Clark's crowned effigy of the Queen. A coloured silver proof was also made for collectors.

It was one of the four coins in the Beatrix Potter set issued in 2017.