Mint Sets

8 coin set from 1p to £2 in Brilliant Uncircualted.

In 1977 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Silver Jubilee or 25th anniversary as our Queen. The Royal Mint issued a special Crown to mark the occasion and more importantly, issued every denomination for that year for circulation. This is something that did not happen all that often. They also issued a Proof Set of these 1977 coins, but they did not issue a Mint Set in 1977. Years ago we obtained a quantity of the coins and had Sandhill make up a red white and blue display card for the 1977 Mint Set. It comes in a Sandhill case, which with the insert would cost you today at least £4-£5, as they are no longer made. You get the Halfpenny, Penny, Twopence, Five Pence, Ten Pence, 50 Pence and Crown. Only the Penny and Twopence are still being made today of the same size and even they are now made out of steel. All the other coins have been reduced in size except for the Halfpence and Crown which are no longer made. All of the coins are in Brilliant Uncirculated condition, remember the case and insert alone would cost you £4-£5 today, a bargain!

8 coin set from 1/2p to £1 in specimen BU folder

7 coin set from 1p to £1 in specimen BU condition.

When the Royal Mint strikes coins, they strike them in three different qualities. The Proof coins for the Proof Sets, the Specimen coins for the Mint Sets and the Uncirculated for actual usage. The ones that are most difficult to get are the real Uncirculated coins. We have tried bank after bank and they just don’t have Uncirculated coins available. Perhaps the Royal Mint wants to protect their striking of Specimen and Proof Sets. The real Uncirculated set on offer, that is coins that were actually struck for usage by the public and not for inclusion into sets is dated 1997. You get the Uncirculated 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and 1p, the coins are Brilliant Uncirculated with the occasional bag mark, but these coins were struck to be used and as such are extremely difficult to get. These were the last coins struck with the so-called Maklouf bust of the Queen on them. A very difficult set to get.