New 50p and £2 coins to launch this year featuring Sherlock Holmes, the D-Day landings and more
COIN hunters are in for a treat this year as the Royal Mint plans to launch a series of new coins including a Sherlock Holmes 50p.
The coin maker often releases commemorative currency to celebrate or mark an anniversary or achievement, and this year there will be five new designs.
Four of the coins - one 50p piece and three £2 coins - are likely to be released into circulation later this year, although the Royal Mint says it doesn't know yet when this will be or how many coins will be released.
While a £5 coin will be available to buy on the Royal Mint in the new year.
Of the coins to go into circulation, one is a 50p featuring Sherlock Holmes' iconic silhouette, complete with his pipe and deerstalker hat.
This year, 2019, marks the 160th birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the detective series.
What do you do if you've got a rare coin?
FIRSTLY, you need to make sure the coin is legit and not counterfeit.
Around one in every four old £1 coins were thought to be fake, according to the Royal Mint, so there are probably more fakers in your spare change then you realise.
The Royal Mint is unable to value a coin but it can confirm whether it is real or not. They will usually supply you with a letter to confirm this.
Once you’ve found out whether the coin is real or not, you have a number of options – either selling it through a coin dealer, at auction or on eBay.
In the background, the image is surrounded by titles in the series, including The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four.
Diarist Samuel Pepys will also be honoured with a £2 coin, 350 years after his last diary entry, to commemorate his influential documentation of events such as the Great Fire of London and the plague.
Queen Victoria's 200th birthday will also be marked with a special edition £5 coin.
The former monarch, born in May 1819, will feature on the tails side of a £5 coin, alongside a telephone, a penny-farthing bicycle, and other inventions from her six-decade-long reign.
The issue of £5 coins is usually reserved for special royal occasions, with the last one released to mark the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding in May 2018.
A £2 coin will also be released to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day landings - the largest seaborne invasion in history - on June 6, 1944.
While the 260th anniversary of Wedgewood pottery, which launched in 1759, will be marked with a £2 coin.
The famous brand celebrates its founder Josiah Wedgwood’s commitment to making one of Britain’s most traditional industries affordable.
Nicola Howell, director of consumer business at the Royal Mint, said: "Our 2019 designs feature a range of momentous people, events, and creations that have had an enduring role in British life and culture.
"These limited edition presentations are the only way to secure all of these coins in one set and are the perfect way to mark special moments in the year ahead."
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A 50p coin celebrating Sir Isaac Newton was initially launched as a commemorative coin at his birth place, Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, in 2017 before being rolled into circulation months later.
It might be time to check your change because we've put together a round up of the rarest and most valuable 50p coins - and you could be sitting on one that's worth a small fortune.
We have also previously shown you which error coins can bag you the most dosh, including the 2012 London Olympics Aquatics 50p coin, which could fetch more than £1,000.
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