JonD wrote: August 3rd, 2023, 7:34 am
When you say "better", Mike, do you mean "likely to be more collectible/valuable"?
Does the Mint publish the volumes of special coins being manufactured?
I’ll answer your second point first Jon. For some reason the Royal Mint don’t publish mintage figures for a few years until after release. The last mintage figures for £2 coins were published for those coins released (not for general circulation) in 2019. The Royal Mint will issue a press release and then specialist coin collector sites will pick up the details and then publish them, normally in a table format.
For example, the famous Kew Gardens 50p was issued in 2009. It was considered a normal type coin at the time. Then, in 2012 the Royal Mint published the mintage figure for this coin at 210,000. This was incredibly low and the value of the coin (numismatically) went through the roof. Currently stands at about £140 ish.
To go to your first point. You cannot get commemorative coins in an uncirculated coin format. They are issued as brilliant uncirculated or proof. The quality is much better but you will pay for it. You can get these coins directly from the RM or specialist sites but you won’t get them in your change. So, my point is twofold. The numismatic value of the coin is higher and based on past value, collectors will pay more for coins of this quality. That makes it better imo. Secondly, on a personal basis I don’t like the Star Wars and Royalty type coins so I prefer to collect other RM coins. For me, they are better.
However, there are specialist Numismatists out there who actively mainly deal in Royalty type coins. That is for them, not me. Never heard of anyone collecting Star Wars coins though!
Long winded answer I know but I hope it makes sense.