Royal Mint 2017 Year of Rooster Coin Collection

In anticipation for 2017 the Royal Mint has announced the latest incarnation of its popular Shēngxiào (Lunar Year) Collection. For a fourth year running talented artist Wuon-Gean Ho provides the design. Despite being a third of the way through the zodiac calendar I have noticed a gradual reduction in mintage figures, specifically the Five Ounce Silver which had a 2014 mintage of 1,488 compared with just 388 for 2017.

Yet again the mint has made changes to its selection of coins, deciding to remove the One Kilo Gold and the Philatelic cover which will bug some collectors.

	Denomination	Metal	Weight	Diameter	Mintage
One Ounce Silver Proof	£2	.999 Silver	31.21g	38.61mm	3,888
Five Ounce Silver Proof	£10	.999 Silver	156.295g	65.00mm	388
One Kilo Silver Proof	£500	.999 Silver	1005g	100mm	68
1/10 Ounce Gold Brilliant Uncirculated	£10	.999 Gold	3.13g	16.5mm	2088
One Ounce Gold Proof	£100	.999 Gold	31.21g	32.21mm	688
Five Ounce Gold Proof	£500	.999 Gold	156.295g	50mm	38

5 Ways to Store Your Coins

There are numerous way that you can store your coins and many people have developed their own storage methods. While some collectors are happy to lump all their coins into a jar or plastic bag, more serious collectors take a much milder approach, separating and labeling each coin. Unless you are planning to open a numismatic museum in your front room deciding how you are going to keep your collection is an important consideration.

In this article I have reviewed some of the most common methods noting their advantages and disadvantages. With regards to the prices I have selected the lowest possible amounts, buying in larger quantities will of course reduce prices even further.

Coin Capsules

Sizes:         14mm to 62mm
Prices:       Pack of 10 from CoinGallery - £2.20 (9p per capsule)
                   Pack of 10 from Duncanon     - £4.05 (40p per capsule)
                   Pack of 10 from Ebay             - £3.00 (30p per capsule)

+ Extremely Cheap

+ Durable

− Difficult to Label and Organise

− Possible Room for Movement

Counterfeit £1 Coin Statistics

The counterfeiting of 1 pound coins is a growing problem and each year thousands are removed from circulation and tests are conducted to estimate how many are in circulation. Below I have created two charts from the data available from the Royal Mint and other sources on the web.

Sources

• https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220827/foi_poundcoins_narrative.pdf
• http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/annual-report
• http://www.coinauthentication.co.uk/newsletter13.html