Paddington at the Station 50p (2018)

This design was struck for general circulation, so most examples have passed through tills and purses and show it. A coin with crisp detail on the bear and the station behind him sells above an ordinary one from change. Brilliant uncirculated coins in the Royal Mint's folder carry a clear premium over circulated coins, and the design's silver proof and piedfort versions have a separate market of their own.

With 5,001,000 struck for circulation, the Paddington at the Station 50p is the joint 45th rarest of the 81 ranked 50p designs and has the joint 102nd 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 Platinum Jubilee 50p, with 5,000,070 struck, and the next more common is the European Union 50p, with 5,043,000 struck.

Look for the bear sitting down. This is the only Paddington 50p where he is seated, perched on his suitcase with a train and the station building behind him. The Palace coin has him standing with a flag, the Tower coin gives him a marmalade sandwich and the St Paul's coin shows him raising his hat. There is no title on the tails side, so the scene is the clue. The heads side is dated 2018 and carries Jody Clark's portrait of the Queen.

Michael Bond introduced his bear from Darkest Peru in A Bear Called Paddington in 1958, and The Royal Mint marked the book's 60th anniversary with the first coins ever to show Paddington. This was the opening design. David Knapton drew the bear as he looks in the live-action film adaptation and set him at the London station that gave him his name. Paddington sits on his suitcase in his duffle coat, with a label hanging round his neck, the station's architecture around him and a train in the background. Knapton's initials DK appear on the design, and there is no denomination on this side; the value goes round Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the heads side. Collectors could buy the brilliant uncirculated coin from 18 June 2018, and coins for everyday change followed in October. A second 2018 design, with the bear at Buckingham Palace, completed the first pair, and two more followed in 2019.

In the Paddington set it was issued in 2018 together with the Paddington at the Palace 50p.