2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p
The 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p is a circulating 50p with 8.6 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2019
- Circulation mintage
- 8,602,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Stephen Raw
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 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p worth?
8.6 million were made, so the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 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 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p rare?
- No. 8.6 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p coins were made?
- 8,602,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p?
- The design is credited to Stephen Raw.
- What is the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 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 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 27.3 mm 50p, including commemoratives, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p was made
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh on 22 May 1859. He trained as a doctor at the University of Edinburgh. One of his teachers there, Dr. Joseph Bell, impressed him with his ability to deduce a patient's history from tiny details. That habit of close observation found its way into Sherlock Holmes, who first appeared in A Study in Scarlet in 1887. Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson went on to feature in four novels and 56 short stories. They remain some of the most adapted characters in fiction.
The Royal Mint released this 50p in 2019 to mark the 160th anniversary of Conan Doyle's birth. It was a clever way to honor the author, since Holmes is far better known than the man who created him. The circulation mintage was 8,602,000, a healthy figure that put the coin into change across the country. For many people it was a welcome change from the run of children's characters on 50ps around the same time, giving older readers a coin of their own.
How to recognize it
Stephen Raw's design is built around lettering. A figure of Sherlock Holmes sits at the center, surrounded by the titles of the Sherlock Holmes books, including A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles. The titles circle the figure in close rows, so the coin rewards a magnifying glass, which seems fitting for this subject. If you can read book titles around a central figure, you have the right coin. The coin is dated 2019. On the obverse sits Jody Clark's portrait of the Queen. It is the standard seven-sided cupronickel 50p, 27.3 mm across, the same size as every 50p since 1997.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p ranks 58th lowest of 76 circulating 50p coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2007 Scouting 50p (7.71 million); the next more common is the 2016 Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p (8.8 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, 79 times fewer than this one.
2019 brought 2 other circulating 50p designs: the Paddington at the Tower (9 million) and the Paddington at St Paul's (9 million). The 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p was the scarcest of the year.
What to check on your 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p
- Confirm the design. The reverse should match the Sherlock Holmes described above and carry the date 2019; 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 8,602,000 made for circulation, the Sherlock Holmes 50p is common and a circulated example is a face value coin. The small lettering wears fast, though, so a coin where every title is still legible is a much better example than one rubbed smooth. That makes this a good coin for practicing your eye on condition. The Royal Mint offered a brilliant uncirculated version in a presentation pack too. Pack coins have crisp lettering and bright fields with no marks, while coins from change look softer and duller, with the smallest titles often hard to read.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 50 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2019 |
| Circulation mintage | 8,602,000 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 8.0 g |
| Diameter | 27.3 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Stephen Raw |
| Portrait | Clark |
Other 2019 50p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 Paddington at the Tower 50p | 9,001,000 | Face value |
| 2019 Paddington at St Paul's 50p | 9,001,000 | Face value |
| 2019 Gruffalo 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2019 Stephen Hawking 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2019 Peter Rabbit 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2019 50 Years of the 50p: British Culture Set 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2019 50 Years of the 50p: British Military Set 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2019 Gruffalo and Mouse 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2019 Wallace and Gromit 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2019 Snowman 50p | Collector issue | Small premium |
Frequently asked questions
Why is Sherlock Holmes on a 50p?
The coin marks 160 years since the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was born in Edinburgh on 22 May 1859. The Royal Mint released the coin in 2019 for the anniversary.
What is written on the Sherlock Holmes 50p?
The reverse is surrounded by the titles of the Sherlock Holmes books, including A Study in Scarlet. Lettering was the main focus for its designer, Stephen Raw. The tiny titles reward a close look with a magnifier.
Mintage figures: Fifty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.