The first coins with King Charles’ official portrait began entering circulation in the UK back in December 2022.
Late in 2023, the Royal Mint unveiled eight new coins designed to reflect the King’s passion for conservation and the natural world.
These coins, new at the time, feature the following designs:
1p – Hazel dormouse
2p – Red Squirrel
5p – Oak tree leaf
10p – Capercaillie
20p – Puffin
50p – Atlantic salmon
£1 – Bees
£2 – National flowers
The first of these commemorative coins – officially known as definitives – to be released was the 50p featuring the Atlantic Salmon design, entering circulation in November 2023.
This time last year, these 50p coins were beginning to sell for hundreds of pounds, with one selling on eBay for £153.48.
Another one of these King Charles coins sold on eBay the previous month for £135.
The Atlantic Salmon 50p had been labelled by Copes Coins as one of the “most talked about coins in the coin community”, according to The Sun.
A Copes Coins spokesperson said: “The current mintage rumours estimate that only 500,000 of these coins were released into general circulation in November 2023.
“Since then, these coins have become much harder to find in your change, and prices on online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon have continued to rise, fuelling the speculation that the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p is to become one of the rarest coins to enter circulation in the last 15 years.”
This story was first reported on by Patrick Glover on August 24, 2024.