Britannia (small) 50p (1997 to 2008)

In circulated condition this coin trades at face value. Every year from 1997 to 2008 was struck for change, and a worn coin of any date draws no premium. The extra value is in brilliant uncirculated examples from Royal Mint year sets, which collectors buy date by date to complete a run of the small Britannia. Sharp, unmarked coins still sealed in their original set are worth the most; coins taken from change stay at face value.

With 805,926,100 struck for circulation, the Britannia (small) 50p is the 81st rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 179th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.

No 50p design has a higher circulation mintage. The next rarer is the Britannia (NEW PENCE) 50p, with 594,917,500 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 2008, with 3,500,000 struck.

This is the Britannia 50p that matches today's coins in size, with Britannia and FIFTY PENCE on the tails side and a point of the heptagon at the top of the design. Any date from 1997 to 2008 is possible. A 1997 coin has Raphael Maklouf's portrait with the Queen in a diadem; later dates have Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait with his initials IRB beneath it. If a 1997 Britannia 50p is clearly bigger than your other 50ps, it is the old large coin from a year set.

Known varieties of the Britannia (small) 50p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• 2009 set-only strike: Dated 2009 with the fourth portrait and struck only for collector sets, among them the 16-coin set marking 40 years of the 50p. The Royal Mint's mintage table lists no 2009 circulation strike.

In the 1990s the Royal Mint made its coins smaller: new 5p and 10p pieces came first, and in 1997 the 50p followed, keeping its seven sides but shrinking to just over 27 mm across and becoming much lighter. Ironside's reverse was reduced to fit rather than redrawn, with FIFTY PENCE above Britannia and the numeral 50 below. The first small coins, dated 1997, carried Raphael Maklouf's portrait of the Queen, and Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait took over from 1998. This small Britannia remained the standard 50p until 2008, when Matthew Dent's Royal Shield design replaced it after a Royal Mint competition. Britannia's removal drew complaints, and the Royal Mint answered them by putting her on the £2 coin from 2015.