The Royal Mint is said to be preparing for the launch of a fresh batch of Beatrix Potter coins, including a brand new Peter Rabbit design.
Posting on Facebook page Coin Hunter one expert said: “expect an announcement from The Royal Mint this month as I have heard that a Beatrix Potter shop is taking pre-orders”.
There’s no official date for the release of the new coin, but you can pre register on the Royal Mint website for an alert when the in demand 50p goes on sale.
It would mark the fourth year in a row that the Royal Mint has launched Beatrix Potter coins – after first releasing them into the Lake District in 2016 to mark the 100th anniversary of the late literary genius.
The first set featured five coins, four with a character on it and one with Beatrix Potter’s name on it, but later sets have only included four.
Today, the most sought after ones are the Peter Rabbit editions – with the 2016 edition selling for upwards of £600 and the 2017 version, selling for £650 .
It means anyone lucky enough to get their hands on the new edition could find themselves sitting on a goldmine.
Every March for the past three years, a new set of Beatrix Potter coins have been announced, with the first batch being released into circulation at the end of the month.
According to Coin Hunter, four more are due to be released later this year.
There are also claims that a shop in Keswick – called Peter Rabbit and Friends – which specialises in Beatrix Potter merchandise, has started taking pre-orders for the 2019 set .
Coin expert Colin Bellamy says he believes one of the characters will be a fox called Mr Tod and a badger called Tommy Brock, both from the Tale of Mr Tod.
The other coin is expected to be of a fat mouse called Samuel Whiskers from The Roly-Poly Pudding.
They will join Jeremy Fisher, Benajmin Bunny, Tom Kitten, the Tailor of Gloucester, Flopsy Bunny, Mrs Tittlemouse and Peter Rabbit from previous years.
This year’s 50p is rumoured to be of Peter Rabbit being chased by gardener Mr McGregor, a reoccurring character who is forever shooing the bunnies away from his vegetable patch. Another theory is that it could be Peter squeezing under the garden gate.
