The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 50p (2023)

Every Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 50p was sold to collectors, so there is no circulated price. The version matters most: the colour edition had a published issue limit and is valued separately from the standard uncoloured coin. Both are worth most in their original, unopened packaging, and loose coins with fingerprints or marks across Tumnus and Lucy sell for less. The silver proof and gold proof are separate collector pieces.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 50p was not issued for circulation, so it has no rarity rank.

Look for a faun with an umbrella and an armful of parcels walking arm in arm with a girl through snowy trees, with THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE in two lines of lettering. King Charles III is on the heads side. The standard coin is plain metal, while the colour-printed edition was a separate release with its own issue limit. As none were issued for circulation, every genuine example comes from a pack, capsule or proof set.

Known varieties of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 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.

C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, first published in 1950, is part of The Chronicles of Narnia. In it Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy step through a wardrobe into a land held under the White Witch's rule, until the return of Aslan, the great lion. For the 60th anniversary of Lewis's death in 2023, The Royal Mint went back to the illustrator of the original edition, Pauline Baynes. The reverse, adapted for the coin by Ffion Gwillim, reproduces her drawing of Mr Tumnus the faun, carrying an umbrella and parcels, walking arm in arm with Lucy through the snowy woods of Narnia. The title THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE is set in two lines. The heads side carries Martin Jennings' portrait of King Charles III. None were made for circulation. It was sold in brilliant uncirculated quality, in packaging that retells a shortened version of the story and in capsules, and as a colour-printed brilliant uncirculated edition, a silver proof and a gold proof.