Flopsy Bunny 50p (2018)

Flopsy Bunny's small circulation mintage, the joint lowest in the series, is why worn coins still sell well above face value. Condition moves the price from there: a coin with sharp ears and a clean face is worth noticeably more than a tired one. Brilliant uncirculated coins from the 2018 packs and tubes rank higher still, and the coloured silver proof is traded separately. Demand stays strong because anyone completing the Beatrix Potter set needs one.

With 1,400,000 struck for circulation, the Flopsy Bunny 50p is the joint seventh rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the joint 45th 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 Triathlon 50p, with 1,163,500 struck, and the next more common is the Tennis 50p, with 1,454,000 struck.

Flopsy faces straight out from the centre of the reverse with FLOPSY BUNNY around the edge, broken by her figure. The name is the thing to read, because Benjamin Bunny from 2017 is also a forward-facing rabbit; he wears a large tam-o'-shanter and his coin reads BENJAMIN BUNNY. The 2018 date is on the heads side. Coloured coins are silver proofs, and no varieties are recorded.

Flopsy Bunny was the second coin in The Royal Mint's 2018 Beatrix Potter collection, the third year of the series, coming after Peter Rabbit and before The Tailor of Gloucester and Mrs Tittlemouse. She is Peter Rabbit's sister, and Potter's tale of 1909, The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies, follows her family. Emma Noble drew her from Potter's original illustrations, facing forward at the heart of the design, and let her figure break the name FLOPSY BUNNY where it circles the rim. Noble's initials en sit on the reverse as well. The heads side has the 2018 date and the Queen's portrait by Jody Clark. Flopsy was struck for circulation and was also sold in brilliant uncirculated packs and tubes and as a coloured silver proof.

It was one of the four coins in the Beatrix Potter set issued in 2018.