2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p
The 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p is a circulating 50p with 5 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
- 5,000,000
- 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 Squirrel Nutkin 50p worth?
5 million were made, so the 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 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 Squirrel Nutkin 50p rare?
- No. 5 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p coins were made?
- 5,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p?
- The design is credited to Emma Noble.
- What is the 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 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 Squirrel Nutkin 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p was made
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin was published in 1903, the year after The Tale of Peter Rabbit, as Potter's career was taking off. It follows a cheeky red squirrel who teases Old Brown, an owl, with riddles while his brothers and cousins gather nuts on Owl Island, until the owl finally loses patience and Nutkin loses most of his tail. The riddles Nutkin chants are based on traditional English nursery rhymes. Potter based the setting on Derwentwater in the Lake District, where she spent holidays. She filled the book with careful drawings of real squirrels and the lake shore.
Squirrel Nutkin was one of four characters chosen for the 2016 Beatrix Potter 50ps, issued for the 150th anniversary of the author's birth. All five coins in the set were designed by Emma Noble. With 5,000,000 struck for circulation, Nutkin had the second lowest mintage of the group, ahead only of Jemima Puddle-Duck. Red squirrels have become rare in much of England since Potter's day, which gives the coin a quiet extra meaning for wildlife lovers.
How to recognize it
Squirrel Nutkin sits on the reverse as Potter drew him, together with his name. His bushy tail is the feature that sets the coin apart from the other Potter designs at a glance. A clear outline of the tail is also a good sign of light wear. The obverse carries Jody Clark's portrait of the Queen. Size and edge are standard for a modern 50p: 27.3 mm with no lettering or milling on the edge. As with the rest of the 2016 set, the artwork follows Potter's soft illustration style closely, so it looks more like a page from the book than a typical coin. The design is by Emma Noble.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p ranks 40th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2018 Tailor of Gloucester 50p (3.9 million); the next more common is the 2022 Pride 50p (5 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 18 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 46 times fewer than this one.
It was released in 2016 alongside 6 other circulating 50p designs: the Jemima Puddle-Duck (2.1 million), the Team GB (6.4 million), the Battle of Hastings (6.7 million), the Beatrix Potter (6.9 million), the Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (8.8 million) and the Peter Rabbit (9.7 million). 1 of them had a smaller run.
Within the circulating Beatrix Potter 50p coins, it ranks 6th scarcest, behind the Flopsy Bunny, Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tittlemouse and others.
What to check on your 2016 Squirrel Nutkin 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Squirrel Nutkin 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.
Five million is lower than most of the 2016 commemoratives and Squirrel Nutkin is often among the last coins people find when completing a Potter set. Circulated examples still trade around face value, though a nice one is well worth keeping. Look at the tail and the lettering of his name, since the fine fur lines wear quickly. A coin that never circulated has an unmarked field, while one from change usually shows scratches around the figure and a slightly dull tone.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2016 |
| Circulation mintage | 5,000,000 |
| 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 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p | 8,800,000 | 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 Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p | 2,100,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Is the Squirrel Nutkin 50p rare?
Not rare, but less common than some. The Royal Mint struck 5,000,000 for circulation in 2016, fewer than Peter Rabbit, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle or the Beatrix Potter portrait coin. Only Jemima Puddle-Duck had a lower figure in that year's set.
What story is Squirrel Nutkin from?
He's the hero of The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, published by Beatrix Potter in 1903. The cheeky red squirrel teases an owl called Old Brown with riddles and pays for it with most of his tail.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.