Rare new 'alphabet' 10p coins appear in Sheffield - but how much are they worth?

The first of the new 'alphabet' 10p coins have started to appear in circulation in Sheffield, but how much are they worth?
New 10p coin - Credit: Michael AdamsNew 10p coin - Credit: Michael Adams
New 10p coin - Credit: Michael Adams

The 10p coins, released by The Royal Mint, are a new collection of ‘Quintessentially British A-Z’, depicting 26 rituals items and landmarks associated with the British

Despite being distributed through the Post Office network from the first week of March, experts warned it may only be next year when they begin to enter circulation.

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However, one lucky Sheffield resident has already picked up one of the new 10p coins.

Michael Adams took to Facebook to reveal that he'd found a new 10p in his change; the letter R for Robin.

But, how much will the new coins be worth?

More than 2.6m coins were designed and launched in March and Change Checker estimate the coins will be ‘very collectable’.

A spokesperson for Change Checker said: “We expect these coins to be very collectible. Take a look at past history and you’ll see that over 75% of the 2012 Olympic 50p coins have now been taken out of circulation.

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“With more coins to be released, and some letters likely to be more popular than others, it’s impossible to determine an accurate scarcity for these coins at the moment.”

Royal Mint estimates from 2016 suggest that there are 1.7 billion 10p coins in circulation. The expected annual demand for 10p coins is approximately 60 million per annum.

Luke Hearn of Change Checker stated that some of the coins will become more rare and valuable than others, with experts believing that the letters B, E, F, L and T will be the most popular.

Mr Hearn added: “Don’t forget commemorative coins do not normally enter circulation particularly quickly and there’s no doubt that the first tranche of coins have been snapped up extra fast by keen collectors.

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“All circulation designs do eventually make their way into circulation and in time into our pockets.

“However, it has been the case since commemorative 50p coins started to issue more regularly from the 1990s that it can be some months until cash centres call off new supplies.

“Will they be rare? Certainly their level of popularity with collectors has been unprecedented and so it seems likely they’ll always be a tough coin to find and, at 10p each, I’ll definitely be putting any I find aside!”