1998 20p Coin
The 1998 20p is a 20p coin struck for circulation with 77 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1998
- Circulation mintage
- 76,965,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1998 20p worth?
77 million were made, so the 1998 20p is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition
- A sets-only date
- A genuine error such as the undated 2008 mule
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1998 20p rare?
- No. 77 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1998 20p coins were made?
- 76,965,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1998 20p made of?
- Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel). It weighs 5.0 g and measures 21.4 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.
- Is the 1998 20p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 20p, including the undated 2008 coin, is legal tender in the UK.
The 1998 20p coin in context
Every so often the Royal Mint updates the Queen's portrait so that the coins keep pace with the monarch. Raphael Maklouf's likeness had been used since 1985 and in 1998 it was replaced by a new one from the sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley. The 1998 20p is the first to carry it. It would go on to appear on every 20p for the next seventeen years, longer than any earlier portrait on the coin. It saw the 20p through the end of the rose design and the start of the shield.
The Mint struck 76,965,000 20ps that year, a little below the 89,518,750 of 1997 and close to the 73,478,750 that followed in 1999. Those are middling figures for the coin. Demand picked up sharply after the turn of the century, with more than 136 million in 2000 and over 148 million in 2001, so the first Rank-Broadley years are among the lower ones of his long run. The new portrait went onto every circulating denomination at once, so 1998 marks a clean break across the whole set of coins, not only the 20p.
How to recognize it
Rank-Broadley shows a more mature Queen in profile facing right, wearing the tiara she received as a wedding gift, often called the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. His initials IRB sit below the neck and the Latin titles run around the rim. The reverse is still William Gardner's crowned double rose with TWENTY PENCE, the figure 20 and the date, so the date stays on the rose side. Size, weight and cupronickel alloy are unchanged at 21.4 mm and 5 g. Comparing it with a 1997 coin is the quickest way to see how much the portrait changed.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
1998 20p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 1998 20p ranks 16th lowest of 41 20p dates and varieties from 1982 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1985 20p (74.3 million); the next more common is the 1996 20p (83.2 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1982 20p with 740.8 million, about 9.6 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 20p with 525,000, 147 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1998 output was 1.2 times fewer than 1997 and about the same as 1999.
Over the 1990s the Mint produced 770.6 million 20p coins across 10 dates and varieties; the 1998 20p accounts for 10.0% of that.
What to check on your 1998 20p
- Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Count the sides: a genuine 20p has seven curved sides, measures 21.4 mm and weighs 5 g.
- Look at the surfaces under a light. Coins from sets have unbroken luster and color; change-worn coins are dull and scuffed.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or dipping strips the original color and leaves fine scratches.
A circulated 1998 20p is a face value coin, but the date marks a clear change of type, so many collectors keep one as the first of the fourth portrait. Pairing it with a 1997 Maklouf coin shows the difference at a glance: tiara against diadem, IRB against RDM. In change, look for coins where the hair and tiara still show fine detail. Uncirculated 1998 coins from the annual sets are the easy way to get a crisp example of the new portrait.
The crowned rose with the Rank-Broadley portrait (1998 to 2008)
Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait reached the 20p in 1998, the fourth likeness of the Queen on British coins. It shows her as a woman in her seventies, wearing the tiara often called the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, with IRB under the truncation. The rose side was left alone. Gardner's crowned double rose still carried TWENTY PENCE, the numeral 20 and the year, so the portrait side had no date throughout this period. That small quirk of layout would matter a great deal when the design finally changed in 2008.
Demand for 20ps grew steadily as the new century began. The first two Rank-Broadley years were fairly modest, 76,965,000 in 1998 and 73,478,750 in 1999. Then output climbed past 136 million in 2000 and 148 million in 2001. The Golden Jubilee year of 2002 dipped to 93,360,000 with no special design, before 2003 set the high point of the decade at 153,383,750. From 2004 to 2007 the Royal Mint struck a steady 114 to 125 million each year. Nearly all of these coins are still turning up in change today.
The period ends with the scarcest circulating rose coin of all. Early in 2008, before Matthew Dent's shield designs replaced every reverse from 1p to 50p, the Mint struck 11,900,000 rose 20ps with the 2008 date. That is the one date from this run worth hunting for. Don't confuse it with the undated 2008 mule: the rose coin always shows its year on the reverse, while the mule is a shield coin with no date on either side. For the rest of the decade, collect for condition. A 1998 makes a good first-year piece and bright coins from sets show the portrait at its best.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 20 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1998 |
| Circulation mintage | 76,965,000 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel) |
| Weight | 5.0 g |
| Diameter | 21.4 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the portrait on the 1998 20p?
Ian Rank-Broadley. His portrait of the Queen first appeared on British coins in 1998 and stayed on the 20p until 2015, longer than any other portrait on the coin. His initials IRB are below the bust.
How many 1998 20p coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 76,965,000 for circulation. That is an ordinary figure for the 20p, so circulated coins are face value. Uncirculated ones from sets draw some interest as the first year of the portrait.
Mintage figures: Twenty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.