This is the second coin of the Star Wars collection from the Royal Mint and features Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
The series celebrates one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The original Star Wars film was released back in 1977 and it's creator George Lucas (LucasFilm Ltd) went on to produce many more films, TV series, books, games and all sorts of media products.
The series created some of the most endearing characters such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO and the evil Darth Vader. Fans loved to ride on the starship Millennium Falcon. Since the original film many more characters have been added.
The coins are released as 50p coin in BU (colourised and plain), Silver and Gold. There are also other coins in various weights of silver and gold. These coins are available (subject to stock) from the Royal Mint Shop.
The Reverse, designed by Lucasfilm Ltd, shows Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
Edge is plain.
The Obverse shows a bare head portrait of King Charles III by Martin Jennings.
Coin shown is the 50p Silver Proof Colour Coin. Limited edition is 12,500 with a maximum mintage of 12,510.
Image credit: The Royal Mint
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Mintage: 12,500 (may include coins in sets)
Minted at The Royal Mint.
In UK: The Monarch is King Charles III, who has his Coronation on Saturday 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. Prime Minster is Rishi Sunak (Conservative).
In USA: President is Joe Biden (D-Delaware) and vice-president is Kamala Harris.
Charles has been married twice. His first marriage was to Diana, Princess of Wales. They married in 1981 and divorced in 1996. They had two children: William, Prince of Wales and hier to the throne, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Charles' second marriage was to Queen Camilla in 2005.
Charles has a sister, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal; and two brothers: Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh.
On coins, King Charles decided to use the English spelling of his name where his predecessors of the same name used the Latin Carolus.
The British Fifty Pence (50p) coin was introduced in October 1969 as part of the decimalisation of the British currency. It replaced the 10 shilling note, both being equivalent to half of one pound (£0.50). It is colloquially called the '50 pee'. The coin has 7 sides (heptagonal) but has rounded corners on each apex so that the coin will roll and work in vending machines.
Originally, the coin has a diameter of 30mm and weighed 13.5g, but in 1997 this was replaced with a smaller version of diameter 27.3mm and weight of 8g. The thickness was kept at 1.78mm. The coin is made of Cupro-Nickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). The larger version was demonitised (i.e. ceased to be legal tender) in 1998.
There are four versions of the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II:
- 1969-1984 - Designer: Arnold Machin
- 1985-1997 - Designer: Raphael Maklouf
- 1998-2015 - Designer: Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS
- 2015-2022 - Designer: Jody Clark
There are also 29 different variants which were minted in 2011 in celebration of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Formed in the reign of Alfred the Great about the year 886, during the period 1279-1812 it was generally referred to as The Tower Mint as it was housed at the Tower of London. The Master of The Royal Mint has included famous figures such as Sir Isaac Newton.
Since 2010 it has operated as Royal Mint Ltd, a company owned by HM Treasury, under an exclusive contract to supply all coinage for the UK although it also produces medals and coins for other countries. It is currently located at Llantrisant, Wales.
The orignal coinage was Pounds, Shillings and Pence but since decimalisation on 15 February 1971, it is £1 = 100p, that is One Pound = 100 pence. The coinage of the UK is also a long history, the Royal Mint being established as long ago as 886AD when coins were hammered. Today there is perhaps 30 billion coins in circulation, and many (numismatic) collectors coins and sets are issued frequently in gold, silver and other metals.
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