2016-06-08 Wed

Benjamin Britten 50p coin was issued in 2013 to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of one of the most loved British composers. For the first time ever, the Royal Mint decided to inscribe both date as well as denomination on the obverse. The mintage limit of this coin is 5.3million which is a good amount to not make it as rare as people think it is.

Floating Fake Market Values

But some sellers have been quoting amounts as high as £6,000, thinking that some buyers would start believing that the coin is rare. The problem with these online portals is that the seller can set an asking price as per his or her wish, but it takes both the seller and the buyer to find a common ground. The starting bid of one of these coins made of 75 per cent copper and 25 per cent nickel, was 1p (plus £1.99) postage, whereas the silver proof version made of 92.5 per cent silver and double the weight had a bid value of £310, considering the fact that only 1,000 such coins were minted.

Expert Opinion

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what is the exact value of these coins. Experts state that one should not shell out more than £10 to buy it. Also, there are official reports that in the last 12 months the value of the top 200 rare coins has increased by 6.2 percent.

Who was Benjamin Britten?

English composer, conductor and pianist Edward Benjamin Britten was born on 22nd November 1913 in Suffolk. His father was a dentist and he studied at the Royal College of Music in London.

Britten’s talent was noticed after composing a cappella choral called A Boy was Born in 1934. He became popular all over the world with the launch of Peter Grimes in 1945. He wrote more than 14 operas over the period of 24 years and earned his name as one of the most noted 20th-century composers in the genre. Some of his best works include Sadler's Wells, Covent Garden, the Turn of the Screw (1954) etc.

Britten tried to portray the struggle of an outsider in a selfish and mean society. He also explored themes such as corruption of innocence as well. He composed for orchestra, chorus, solo vocal, chamber, instrumental and film music. He also liked writing music for children and amateur performers. He performed many of his own works himself. He also performed compositions of other great musicians such as Bach's Brandenburg concertos, Mozart symphonies, song cycles by Schubert and Schumann etc. Britten was one of the founders of the annual Aldeburgh Festival in 1948 and created Snape Maltings concert hall in 1967.