Paddington at the Palace 50p (2018)

Because it went into general circulation, the usual Paddington at the Palace 50p is a used coin from change, and its value rests on how much of the flag, the bear and the palace detail survives. Unworn coins taken from circulation bags sell for more, and the brilliant uncirculated coin in its Royal Mint pack sells for more again. The silver proof and silver piedfort editions are separate collector coins with their own prices.

With 5,901,000 struck for circulation, the Paddington at the Palace 50p is the 50th rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the 116th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Uncommon band, for mintages 2,500,000 to 9,999,999.

The next rarer 50p is the Battle of Britain 50p, with 5,900,000 struck, and the next more common is the Team GB 50p, with 6,400,000 struck.

This is the Paddington 50p with a flag. The bear stands upright and waves a Union Flag, with the front of Buckingham Palace behind him. The design has no words, only the initials DK, so rely on the picture: the other 2018 coin shows him seated on a suitcase at the station, and the 2019 coins put him at the Tower of London or St Paul's Cathedral. The heads side carries the 2018 date and the Queen's portrait by Jody Clark.

The Royal Mint gave Paddington two 50ps in 2018 for the 60th anniversary of A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond's 1958 book, and this was the second of them. Having placed the bear at his namesake station on the first coin, David Knapton took him to Buckingham Palace for this one, a place Paddington visits in the live-action film that Knapton used as his model. The bear stands in front of the palace waving a Union Flag. There is no title on the reverse: the only lettering is Knapton's initials, DK, and the value is shown on the obverse, where the Queen appears in Jody Clark's portrait. The brilliant uncirculated coin followed the station coin in 2018, in fold-out packaging telling the story of the visit, and the design was also struck in silver, both as a proof and as a piedfort. Together with the station coin, it marked the first time Paddington had appeared on UK coinage.

In the Paddington set it was issued in 2018 together with the Paddington at the Station 50p, and the Paddington at the Tower 50p followed in 2019.