2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p
The 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p is a circulating 50p with 1.7 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
- 1,700,000
- 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 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p worth?
1.7 million were made, so the 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 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 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p rare?
- No. 1.7 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p coins were made?
- 1,700,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p?
- The design is credited to Emma Noble.
- What is the 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 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 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p was made
Mrs. Tittlemouse is a wood mouse who lives in a bank under a hedge and keeps her home spotless. In The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, published in 1910, her tidy passages are invaded by a string of unwanted guests: beetles, a spider, a bumble bee with her nest and, most trying of all, Mr. Jackson, a fat toad who drips water everywhere and will not take a hint. It is a comic little book about housekeeping. Readers who love order tend to have a soft spot for her.
Her 50p came out in 2018 as part of the third set of Beatrix Potter coins, along with Peter Rabbit, Flopsy Bunny and The Tailor of Gloucester. The 2018 coins were struck in much smaller numbers than the 2017 ones. Mrs. Tittlemouse had a circulation mintage of 1.7 million, which put her well below the earlier characters. There is also a fun overlap with another coin from that year: in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies it is a wood mouse called Thomasina Tittlemouse who gnaws a hole in Mr. McGregor's sack to free the trapped young rabbits.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows Mrs. Tittlemouse carrying her basket, with her name above the image. Emma Noble adapted the figure from Potter's original illustrations, as with the rest of the series. Mice appear on more than one Potter coin, so the basket and the name MRS. TITTLEMOUSE are what to check. The Tailor of Gloucester coin shows a mouse on a reel of thread with a newspaper, which is easy to tell apart once you know. The date on this one is 2018. Jody Clark's effigy of the Queen fills the obverse. It is the standard 27.3 mm seven-sided cupronickel 50p, without color.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p ranks 15th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2011 Olympic Modern Pentathlon 50p (1.69 million); the next more common is the 2011 Olympic Rowing 50p (1.72 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1973 EEC Hands 50p with 89.8 million, about 53 times as many. The scarcest is the 1992 Single Market 50p with 109,000, 16 times fewer than this one.
It was released in 2018 alongside 6 other circulating 50p designs: the Flopsy Bunny (1.4 million), the Peter Rabbit (1.4 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). 2 of them had a smaller run.
Within the circulating Beatrix Potter 50p coins, it ranks 3rd scarcest, behind the Flopsy Bunny and Peter Rabbit.
What to check on your 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Mrs Tittlemouse 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.
At 1.7 million this is one of the lower mintages among the circulating Beatrix Potter 50ps, so it is harder to find in change than most. It is not a major rarity, but circulated coins can bring a small premium from people completing the set, with sharper coins more appealing. Check the basket and the mouse's whiskers and paws for wear. The Royal Mint sold this design in brilliant uncirculated packs as well. A pack coin has a clean, bright surface with no marks, while one from change will have scuffs and a duller look.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2018 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,700,000 |
| 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 Flopsy Bunny 50p | 1,400,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Peter Rabbit 50p | 1,400,000 | Face value |
| 2018 Snowman 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
Frequently asked questions
How many Mrs Tittlemouse 50p coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 1.7 million Mrs. Tittlemouse 50ps for circulation in 2018. That is low compared with the 2017 Beatrix Potter coins, though slightly more than Flopsy Bunny and the 2018 Peter Rabbit.
Is the Mrs Tittlemouse 50p still legal tender?
It is. The coin is an ordinary 27.3 mm 50p and remains legal tender. Because the mintage was fairly low, most people who notice one in their change hold on to it for a collection rather than spending it.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.