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First Look At New Gruffalo Coin Going On Sale Today

First Look At New Gruffalo Coin Going On Sale Today

The 50 pence pieces features the half grizzly bear and half buffalo beast, illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

Rachel Andrews

Rachel Andrews

The Royal Mint finally unveiled the new Gruffalo 50p coin which goes on sale today, celebrating two decades of the beloved children's character.

This new 50 pence piece features the half grizzly bear and half buffalo beast, with the nostalgic designs drawn by Axel Scheffler, who illustrated the original story books.

Unfortunately, the coins won't be going into official circulation and are collectors' pieces only.

PA/Hope and Glory

The scary but lovable monster first appeared in 1999 after being created by children's author Julia Donaldson, with more than 13.5 million copies of her books selling worldwide.

Julia said of the new celebratory coin: "I can't believe it has been 20 years since The Gruffalo was first published.

"In that time, he's been brought to life on stage and screen, featured in nature trails, library cards and book tokens and turned into a soft toy; and now he's got his own 50p coin."

While illustrator Axel added: "When I first envisaged him, over 20 years ago, I never anticipated that my artwork would be used on a coin.

"The Gruffalo was born of an Anglo-German creative collaboration and it's amazing to see how his universal appeal continues to connect with families across the world."

PA/Hope and Glory

The new Gruffalo 50p is available to buy from today (Tuesday, 19th February) on The Royal Mint website here, with prices starting at £10 for the plain silver version.

It costs £65 for the silver proof coin, with a limited run of 25,000. And the gold proof 50p, which weighs 15.50g, costs £795 - only 600 have been created.

It's unclear how much they'll be worth afterwards, although past coins of this type have been known to sell for three times the amount online.

Nicola Howell, director of consumer business at The Royal Mint, said: "Over the last 20 years The Gruffalo has become one of the most famous children's characters in the world.

"We felt it was only right, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the book being published to feature him on a commemorative coin.

"We hope that children and adults across the UK will love this family favourite as much as we do."

The Royal Mint confirmed the Gruffalo coin's creation back in November 2018.

Other children's characters, like Paddington Bear, have also featured on special collector's 50p coins in recent years.

Featured Image Credit: PA Images/Hope and Glory

Topics: Life News, News