Royal Mint launches £5 coin to celebrate Prince Philip's 70 years of service - and the last coin featuring him now sells for 550% of its original price
- New Prince Philip £5 coin available from end of August
- His last £5 coin, from 2011, sell online for vastly inflated sums
- Comes after just 18,730 of the coins were struck
A new £5 coin celebrating Prince Philip and his 70 years of service could end up being worth a mint in the future, depending on how rare it becomes.
The coin, available to pre-order from the Royal Mint for £13 to be shipped in late August, reads 'NON SIBI SED PATRIAE' in Latin, which means: 'Not for himself but for his country.'
It is not the first time Prince Philip has featured on a coin. In 2011, a £5 coin was issued to celebrate his 90th birthday.
New £5: The 'brilliant uncirculated coin' features both Prince Philip and the Queen
That has turned out to be one of the rarest £5 coins ever offered, showing appetite to buy them six years ago was low.
The design featured a portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh and just 18,730 of these coins were struck in brilliant uncirculated presentation packs, according to the Royal Mint, sold for £9.99 a pop.
This mintage is low and means it is sought after by collectors.
When these coins show up on online marketplace eBay, they regularly sell for more than £65 – 550 per cent growth compared to 2011.
The new £5 coin comes after Prince Philip announced in May his retirement from public duty and his last official engagement was last week.
If public uptake is small again, it could be a future collectors' item.
Tidy profit: Sellers are regularly receiving a 550% return on the 2011 version of the coin
The Royal Mint says: 'After a short but distinguished naval career, Prince Philip found a new purpose in life as a loyal consort to Her Majesty The Queen.
'For eight decades he has also devoted himself to hundreds of different causes, to inspiring young people, championing British design and engineering and campaigning tirelessly to protect the environment. He is also a former president of The Royal Mint Advisory Committee.
'To recognise this enormous contribution through service, The Royal Mint has struck a £5 brilliant uncirculated coin.
'This original design features one of the last commissions by highly respected designer Thomas 'Humphrey' Paget.'
Brilliant uncirculated coins are struck at a higher standard than circulating coins.
They are billed by the Royal Mint as an 'entry-level collectible coin or as the perfect affordable gift for someone looking to mark a special year.'
However, as we've pointed out before, these coins can be hard to cash in, even at banks, if you want the 'face value' of it in the future.
In recent years, public imagination on coin collecting has seen somewhat of a boom.
This is Money revealed a round-up of coins that can turn up in your change worth a mint, while the Beatrix Potter 50p coins have turned out to be popular.
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