Hogwarts Express 50p (2022)
The Hogwarts Express 50p is the second coin in the Harry Potter 25th anniversary set, showing the steam train from the books. Collectors check it because it was a pack-only issue and one of the last commemoratives with Queen Elizabeth II's portrait. It is one of the eight Harry Potter 50p coins and one of the 172 50p designs struck since 1969.
Hogwarts Express 50p value
- Uncirculated
- typical £11, range £10 to £12
Worked out from 6 published prices (3 dealer prices, 2 sold-price reports and 1 price guide), each condition from its own prices, checked in September 2026.
With no circulation strikes, there is no worn version to price, and value depends on how well the brilliant uncirculated coin has been kept. The Royal Mint pack with its card intact is the form dealers price highest; coins moved into plain capsules or third-party cards sell for less. Scratches, toning or a split card lower the price further. The colour edition and the silver and gold proofs are priced apart from the plain cupro-nickel coin.
Hogwarts Express 50p mintage and rarity
The Hogwarts Express 50p was not issued for circulation, so it has no rarity rank.
How to spot a Hogwarts Express 50p
The train is the giveaway: a steam engine across the coin, with HOGWARTS EXPRESS above it and 25 YEARS OF MAGIC in microtext underneath. Tilt it to find the latent 25 and lightning bolt just to the right of the engine. The obverse shows Queen Elizabeth II, not King Charles III. A colour edition was sold alongside the plain coin, and the design was also struck in silver and gold. It never went into general circulation, so a loose one in change came from a pack.
Known varieties of the Hogwarts Express 50p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:
- Colour edition: A colour-printed brilliant uncirculated edition; 27,885 were made.
Hogwarts Express 50p design
The Hogwarts Express was the second coin in The Royal Mint's collection for the 25th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and the last individual collectable 50p The Royal Mint launched in 2022. The design is lifted directly from Jim Kay's cover for the 2015 fully illustrated edition of that first book, and Ffion Gwillim adapted it for the 50p. The engine fills the middle of the coin, with HOGWARTS EXPRESS lettered above it and 25 YEARS OF MAGIC in microtext below. To the right of the train sits the latent image shared by the set, which flips between the number 25 and the lightning bolt as the coin moves. The obverse kept Jody Clark's fifth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, and The Royal Mint announced it as the final individual 50p to carry her portrait before King Charles III appeared on the last two coins of the set. That makes it one of the last UK commemorative coins with the late Queen's effigy.
In the Harry Potter set it was issued in 2022 together with the Harry Potter 50p, and the Albus Dumbledore 50p followed in 2023.
Hogwarts Express 50p specifications
- Denomination
- 50p
- Year
- 2022
- Type
- Commemorative
- Issue
- Not issued for circulation
- Series
- Harry Potter
- Occasion
- 25th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- Designer
- Jim Kay (illustration), modelled by Ffion Gwillim
- Composition
- Cupro-nickel
- Weight
- 8 g
- Diameter
- 27.3 mm
- Shape
- Seven-sided
- Edge
- Plain
- Obverse
- Elizabeth II, fifth portrait by Jody Clark
Hogwarts Express 50p questions
Is the Hogwarts Express 50p in circulation?
No. It was issued only for collectors, in brilliant uncirculated packs, as a colour edition and as silver and gold proofs, so it is not one you should expect to find in change.
Which monarch is on the Hogwarts Express 50p?
Queen Elizabeth II, in Jody Clark's fifth portrait. It is one of the last UK commemorative coins with her effigy; the Harry Potter coins after it carry King Charles III.
Where does the Hogwarts Express 50p design come from?
It is taken from Jim Kay's cover for the 2015 fully illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, adapted for the coin by Ffion Gwillim.