2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p
The 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p is a circulating 50p with 8.8 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2016
- Circulation mintage
- 8,800,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Emma Noble
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 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p worth?
8.8 million were made, so the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p 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 with no scratches or contact marks
- Original Royal Mint pack or presentation folder
- A genuine mint error, confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p rare?
- No. 8.8 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p coins were made?
- 8,800,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p?
- The design is credited to Emma Noble.
- What is the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p made of?
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 8.0 g and measures 27.3 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.
- Is the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p was made
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle was published in 1905. It tells of a little girl called Lucie who goes looking for her lost handkerchiefs and finds a hedgehog washerwoman in a tiny kitchen in the hillside, busy with the laundry of the local animals. Potter based the character on her own pet hedgehog and set the story in the fells around Newlands in the Lake District, a landscape she knew from family holidays. Like the other tales, it was printed in a small format sized for children's hands.
Mrs Tiggy-Winkle was one of four characters chosen for the 2016 Beatrix Potter 50ps, issued for the 150th anniversary of the author's birth alongside a coin showing Potter herself. Emma Noble designed every coin in the set. With 8,800,000 struck for circulation, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle had the second highest mintage of the set, behind Peter Rabbit. The homely subject proved a hit and for a while she was one of the Potter coins people found most often in their change. Hedgehogs remain a favorite garden visitor in Britain, which only adds to her appeal.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows Mrs Tiggy-Winkle in her washerwoman's clothes, as Potter pictured her, together with her name. Her prickles are the quickest clue that this is the hedgehog and not one of the other Potter characters. If your Potter coin shows a small round figure in clothes with prickles, this is the one. The obverse carries Jody Clark's portrait of the Queen, which first appeared on British coins in 2015. The coin is 27.3 mm across and has a plain edge. Like the others in the set, the design keeps the gentle look of Potter's watercolors rather than the hard lines of a typical coin. Emma Noble created it.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p ranks 59th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p (8.6 million); the next more common is the 2018 Representation of the People Act 50p (9 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 10 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 81 times fewer than this one.
It shared 2016 with 6 other circulating 50p designs: the Jemima Puddle-Duck (2.1 million), the Squirrel Nutkin (5 million), the Team GB (6.4 million), the Battle of Hastings (6.7 million), the Beatrix Potter (6.9 million) and the Peter Rabbit (9.7 million). 5 of them had a smaller run.
Within the circulating Beatrix Potter 50p coins, it ranks 8th scarcest, behind the Flopsy Bunny, Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tittlemouse and others.
What to check on your 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Mrs Tiggy-Winkle described above and carry the date 2016; similar designs from other years are a common mix-up.
- Weigh it if you can: a genuine 27.3 mm 50p weighs 8.0 g. Copies are often light, slightly soft in detail or the wrong color.
- Ignore painted or colored versions sold online as special editions. Color added after the coin left the Mint does not make it a Royal Mint issue and does not add collector value.
- Look at the surfaces under a bright light. Coins straight from a pack have unbroken luster; change-worn coins show scuffs on the high points of the portrait and design.
At 8.8 million, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle is one of the more common Potter coins, so circulated examples sit at face value. Like the rest of the series, it's sought by families and casual collectors completing a set, which keeps it in demand even though it isn't scarce. Detail in the clothes and prickles wears fast and a coin from change often looks flat in the middle. For a keeper, look for a clear outline, crisp lettering in her name and a field free of scratches.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2016 |
| Circulation mintage | 8,800,000 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 8.0 g |
| Diameter | 27.3 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Emma Noble |
| Portrait | Clark |
Other 2016 50p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 Peter Rabbit 50p | 9,700,000 | Face value |
| 2016 Beatrix Potter 50p | 6,900,000 | Face value |
| 2016 Battle of Hastings 50p | 6,700,000 | Face value |
| 2016 Team GB 50p | 6,400,000 | Face value |
| 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p | 5,000,000 | Face value |
| 2016 Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p | 2,100,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
How many Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 8,800,000 for circulation in 2016, the second highest figure among the five Beatrix Potter 50ps of that year. Only Peter Rabbit had more, so this is a common coin and a circulated one is a face value find.
What animal is Mrs Tiggy-Winkle?
She is a hedgehog who works as a washerwoman in The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, published in 1905. Beatrix Potter based her on a pet hedgehog of her own and the 2016 50p shows her with her name.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.