Steppe Mammoth 50p (2024)
The Steppe Mammoth 50p of 2024 opened the Ice Age Giants collection, made with the Natural History Museum. Collectors look it up because it was sold only in collector packs and starts a three-coin set of Ice Age mammals. It is one of the three Ice Age Giants 50p coins and one of the 172 50p designs struck since 1969.
Steppe Mammoth 50p value
- Uncirculated
- typical £9, range £6 to £10
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.
Every Steppe Mammoth 50p was sold as a collector coin, so there is no circulated grade and the price follows condition and packaging. The coin in its original Royal Mint pack is worth more than one in a plain capsule or another company's pack. Hairline scratches, spots and a damaged card lower it. The limited colour edition is valued apart from the plain coin, and silver and gold proof versions of the design were also struck.
Steppe Mammoth 50p mintage and rarity
The Steppe Mammoth 50p was not issued for circulation, so it has no rarity rank.
How to spot a Steppe Mammoth 50p
Look for a mammoth with a full skeleton drawn in the foreground. Read the lettering: MAMMUTHUS at the top and STEPPE MAMMOTH at the bottom, with RN for Robert Nicholls. King Charles III is on the obverse. The other two Ice Age Giants coins use a similar layout of animal, skeleton and Latin name, so the word MAMMUTHUS is the quickest check. A colour edition was sold in a limited run, and the plain brilliant uncirculated coin was never issued into circulation.
Known varieties of the Steppe Mammoth 50p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:
- Colour edition: A colour-printed brilliant uncirculated edition, with an issue limit of 10,000.
Steppe Mammoth 50p design
The Royal Mint's Tales of the Earth range turned in 2024 to the great mammals of the Pleistocene, the period often called the Ice Age, when ice sheets spread across the globe and large grazing animals thrived on open grassland beside them. The steppe mammoth, Mammuthus trogontherii, led the three-coin Ice Age Giants set. It was among the biggest animals of its time, a plant eater with an average shoulder height of around four metres, and its molars carried extra ridges that stood up to tough, gritty food. Palaeo-artist Robert Nicholls drew the animal from scientifically accurate reconstructions, working with palaeobiologist Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum. The mammoth is shown with a mammoth skeleton in the foreground, the genus name MAMMUTHUS above and STEPPE MAMMOTH below, and the artist's initials RN. The woolly rhinoceros and the giant deer followed later in 2024 to complete the set.
It was one of the three coins in the Ice Age Giants set issued in 2024.
Steppe Mammoth 50p specifications
- Denomination
- 50p
- Year
- 2024
- Type
- Commemorative
- Issue
- Not issued for circulation
- Series
- Ice Age Giants
- Occasion
- Ice Age Giants collection (Tales of the Earth), with the Natural History Museum: Steppe Mammoth
- Designer
- Robert Nicholls
- Composition
- Cupro-nickel
- Weight
- 8 g
- Diameter
- 27.3 mm
- Shape
- Seven-sided
- Edge
- Plain
- Obverse
- Charles III, first portrait by Martin Jennings
Steppe Mammoth 50p questions
Is the Steppe Mammoth 50p in circulation?
No. It was issued only to collectors, as a brilliant uncirculated coin in packs, a limited colour edition and silver and gold proofs.
What are the Ice Age Giants 50p coins?
A set of three 2024 coins in The Royal Mint's Tales of the Earth range: the Steppe Mammoth first, then the Woolly Rhinoceros and the Giant Deer, all drawn by Robert Nicholls with the Natural History Museum.
Who designed the Steppe Mammoth 50p?
Palaeo-artist Robert Nicholls, with scientific guidance from Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum. His initials RN are on the reverse.