EEC Hands 50p (1973)

Like every large 50p, the EEC coin was demonetised in 1998, so it has no spending value, and circulated examples are common enough to sell for small sums. Condition is the main factor: the more of the fingers and joined wrists that still show clearly, the more a coin is worth. The proof from the 1973 set, the silver proof piedfort and uncirculated coins are collected as separate versions and priced above anything that came out of change.

With 89,775,000 struck for circulation, the EEC Hands 50p is the 77th rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 164th 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 Benjamin Bunny 50p, with 25,000,000 struck, and the next more common is the Britannia (FIFTY PENCE, large) 50p, with 114,819,007 struck.

The ring of hands is hard to miss, and no other 50p is dated 1973, so the date inside the circle settles it. This is the large 30 mm coin from before 1997, much bigger than a modern 50p. Look for the one hand in the ring that is visibly smaller than the other eight. Collectors' versions also exist: a proof struck for the 1973 year set and a silver proof piedfort.

Known varieties of the EEC Hands 50p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• 2009 anniversary set reissue: Struck again dated 2009 on the small 27.3 mm coin, with Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait, for the 16-coin set issued in October 2009 to mark 40 years of the 50p, in cupro-nickel and as silver proof, gold proof and gold piedfort. Not issued for circulation.

Britain joined the European Economic Community on 1 January 1973, together with Ireland and Denmark, which took the membership to nine. The Royal Mint marked the occasion with its first commemorative 50p, a large coin designed by the sculptor David Wynne, whose work ranged across animals, figures and portraits and included a sculpture of the Beatles made in 1964. His reverse is a circle of nine hands clasping one another, standing for the nine members joined in trust, assistance and friendship, with the date 1973 above 50 PENCE inside the ring. Wynne first planned ten hands. He modelled them on real people: himself, his wife, one of his sons, a craftsman from his studio and a girl who helped look after his children. The hand he dropped was one of hers, and her other hand stayed, which is why one hand in the ring looks smaller and more delicate than the rest. He did not intend any hand to stand for a particular country. Arnold Machin's portrait of the Queen is on the heads side.