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Royal Mint’s £50 coin – worth less than £10
The Royal Mint has launched a £50 coin, but the value of the metal is much lower
A new £50 coin has been made available by Royal Mint to celebrate the Queen becoming the nation's longest-reigning monarch.
The silver coin is being sold at face value. Demand is limited, with just 100,000 available.
Royal Mint expects it be as popular as others it has previously sold at face value. Coins such as this are normally sold at higher prices to reflect their commemorative value.
Its £20 coin, made available at face value and marking the birth of Prince George in 2013, sold out within days.
The Big Ben £100 coin also proved popular and sold out after just 11 days earlier this year.
As with other commemorative coins, such as those launched to celebrate Princess Charlotte's birth, the value of the £50 coin's precious metal content is not worth the purchase price.
The Britannia 2015 UK £50 Fine Silver Coin contains 31 grams of 999 fine silver.
At today’s price of 30p a gram the value of the silver in the coin works out at £9.30.
But, from a coin investor’s perspective, the hope is that due to the limited quantities and the historic event it celebrates, the value of the £50 coin will rise over time on the back of demand from other collectors.
The £50 coin does qualify as legal tender but, contrary to popular belief, this does not mean shops or other businesses have to accept it as payment. 'Legal tender' simply means that an item can be used to settle debts to a court.
Commomorative coins, therefore, do not have the same status as "circulation" coins, such a £1 and 50p coins.
Royal Mint claims their metal content is only part of the worth of the coin to buyers. The design and quality and detail of the "print", as well as the limit of each edition, are all important to the total worth.
The £20 Prince George coin, for instance, is on sale for £27.99 on eBay, the auction website.
The £100 Big Ben coin, which contains 56 grams of silver, is selling for £170.
According to the Coutts index, which tracks the prices of passion investments, old coins are one of only two alternative investments that have not lost money in any given year since 2005. The other is stamps.