2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p
The 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p is a circulating 50p with 1.4 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2018
- Circulation mintage
- 1,400,000
- 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 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p worth?
1.4 million were made, so the 2018 Flopsy Bunny 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 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p rare?
- No. 1.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p coins were made?
- 1,400,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p?
- The design is credited to Emma Noble.
- What is the 2018 Flopsy Bunny 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 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p was made
Flopsy is one of Peter Rabbit's three sisters, alongside Mopsy and Cotton-tail. In The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, published in 1909, she has grown up and married her cousin Benjamin Bunny. They have a large family of their own. The book opens with a famous line about the effect of eating too much lettuce being "soporific". Sure enough, the young rabbits nibble the lettuces on Mr. McGregor's rubbish heap, fall asleep and are bundled into a sack, until a wood mouse called Thomasina Tittlemouse chews a hole and helps their parents rescue them.
Flopsy's 50p was released in 2018 as part of the third set of Royal Mint Beatrix Potter coins. The circulation mintage was 1.4 million, tied with the 2018 Peter Rabbit coin for the lowest of the circulating Potter 50ps of that year. Since her husband Benjamin had the highest mintage of the series a year earlier, the pair neatly bookend the range: Benjamin is the easiest of the Potter coins to find in change, while Flopsy is among the hardest.
How to recognize it
Emma Noble's design shows Flopsy Bunny in her little jacket with her name. The circulating coin is plain cupronickel, so you will see the folds of the jacket rather than any color from the book illustrations. The name FLOPSY BUNNY is the surest check, since rabbits appear on several coins in the series and they can look alike when worn. Every Potter rabbit coin is lettered with its character's name or book title, so read the words before anything else. Look for 2018 as the date. Flip it over for Jody Clark's portrait of the Queen. Like all 50ps since 1997, this one is the seven-sided 27.3 mm size.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p ranks 7th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Triathlon 50p (1.16 million); the next more common is the 2018 Peter Rabbit 50p (1.4 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 64 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 13 times fewer than this one.
2018 brought 6 other circulating 50p designs: the Peter Rabbit (1.4 million), the Mrs Tittlemouse (1.7 million), the The Tailor of Gloucester (3.9 million), the Paddington at the Station (5 million), the Paddington at the Palace (5.9 million) and the Representation of the People Act (9 million). The 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p was the scarcest of the year.
Within the circulating Beatrix Potter 50p coins, it ranks 1st scarcest.
What to check on your 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Flopsy Bunny described above and carry the date 2018; 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.
With 1.4 million struck for circulation, Flopsy Bunny is one of the scarcer Beatrix Potter 50ps and one of the lower mintages among modern commemoratives. That earns circulated examples a small premium with collectors, while sharp, unmarked coins are more sought after. Look at the jacket folds and Flopsy's ears for wear. Brilliant uncirculated versions were also sold by the Royal Mint in packs. To tell a pack coin from one found in change, look at the fields: pack coins are bright and smooth, while circulated coins are duller with fine scratches and small edge knocks.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2018 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,400,000 |
| 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 2018 50p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 Representation of the People Act 50p | 9,000,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Paddington at the Palace 50p | 5,901,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Paddington at the Station 50p | 5,001,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Tailor of Gloucester 50p | 3,900,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p | 1,700,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Peter Rabbit 50p | 1,400,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Snowman 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
Frequently asked questions
Is the Flopsy Bunny 50p rare?
It is one of the scarcer Beatrix Potter coins, with 1.4 million struck for circulation in 2018. That is not a famous rarity, but collectors will pay a small premium for a clean example to complete their set.
Who is Flopsy Bunny?
Flopsy is Peter Rabbit's sister. In The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, published in 1909, she is married to Benjamin Bunny. Their children are the Flopsy Bunnies, who fall asleep after eating too much lettuce in Mr. McGregor's garden.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.