Diversity Built Britain 50p (2020)

Large numbers entered circulation from October 2020, so a Diversity Built Britain 50p from change trades at face value. The fine lines of the network are the first detail to soften with wear, and only a sharp, unmarked coin will interest a collector. Brilliant uncirculated packs sell above face value, with sealed packs doing best, while the silver and gold proofs and piedforts are collector pieces priced on their own.

With 10,300,000 struck for circulation, the Diversity Built Britain 50p is the 71st rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 149th 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 Brexit 50p, with 10,001,000 struck, and the next more common is the Public Libraries 50p, with 11,263,000 struck.

Look for a tails side covered in straight lines and small triangles, like the frame of a dome, with DIVERSITY BUILT BRITAIN written across it in flowing lettering. There is no picture and no value on that side; turn the coin over to find 50 PENCE and 2020 beside the fifth portrait of the Queen. The initials DME are part of the reverse design. No varieties or errors are recorded for this coin.

The Royal Mint issued this 50p in 2020 to celebrate everyone who has made Britain what it is, and in particular the contribution of ethnic minority communities. The design is by Dominique Evans. Its whole surface is taken up by a network of lines and triangles modelled on a geodesic dome, or geodome, a structure that gets its strength from every section working with the others. That is the message of the coin: connection between communities, and the strength those connections give across the country. The words DIVERSITY BUILT BRITAIN sit inside the network in a calligraphic hand, and Evans's initials DME appear on the same side. There is no value on the reverse; it is on the heads side with Jody Clark's fifth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the date. The coin reached circulation in October 2020 and was sold in brilliant uncirculated packs from 17 October, with silver proof, silver piedfort, gold proof and gold piedfort editions for collectors.