The Royal Mint joins MDM in marking the 90th anniversary of seminal board game, Monopoly, with gold and silver coins

Monopoly, either a fun game of economics, or a mean-spirited take on capitalism, has hit its 90th birthday in its current form, itself pre-dated by the inspiration for it, ‘The Landlord’s Game’, created in 1903 by Lizzie Magie. Generations have grown up playing this property-economics game, buying and trading properties and developing them with houses and hotels. It was first published by Parker Brothers in the US, and Waddington’s in the UK, both in 1935. The game has a huge following, having racked up over 275 million sales across 113 licenced countries, and has been translated into 46 languages.

The variety of themed boards has exploded from the original choice of Atlanta and London, and new ones are constantly published top this day. One of the most iconic elements has always been the metal playing tokens, which have often changed over time, although the battleship, race car, and top hat, have been a constant presence since 1935, all under the watchful gaze of the moustachioed ‘Mr Monopoly’, also known as ‘Rich Uncle Pennybags’. Monopoly has a strong history in the UK, and we’re not surprised that the Royal Mint has marked the game’s 90th anniversary with a heptagonal 50 pence coin. MDM have already issued an extremely impressive design, but cost will keep that out of many hands, so it’s good to see the more affordable end of the market covered (never thought I’d write that about a Royal Mint coin…).

Silver

Silver box

The design is straightforward enough, but very effective in showcasing the board game, depicting a wide range of the iconic pieces used to play it, along with Mr Monopoly, running with a huge bag of swag under his arm, a particularly apt symbol of today’s rich, perhaps. In the bottom right, is a struck, lenticular square, which will show a different image (of two) depending on what angle you view the coin at. It’s a Royal Mint offering, so the obverse is just the usual effigy of King Charles III, surrounded by the inscribed issue details.

Three coins make up the range, with the standard seven-sided sterling silver, and 22kt gold coins putting in an appearance again, only the former of which is coloured. The presentation of the silver coin is as superb as ever, with a highly attractive solid acrylic block display frame. The half-ounce gold gets more traditional packaging, as at over 22 times the price, is likely aimed at the more traditional collector, who is less likely to display it.

Finally, there’s one of those tiny 0.8 gram, 8 mm diameter minigold coins that they mint from time to time. This one is particularly cool, and manages to sum-up the game in those miniscule dimensions. The £120 price is a bit tough to swallow, however, and we’d like to see this sub-£100, even at today’s elevated spot price. All are available to purchase now.

Gold

Gold box

Minigold (0.8 grams)

Minigold blistercard

SPECIFICATIONS

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION DIAMETER FINISH TOTAL MINTAGE (LEP)
£0.5 UKP (United Kingdom) 15.50 g of 0.9167 gold 27.30 mm Proof 150 (90)
£0.5 UKP (United Kingdom) 0.80 g of 0.9999 gold 8.00 mm Proof 1,260 (1,250)
£0.5 UKP (United Kingdom) 8.00 g of 0.925 silver 27.30 mm Proof, Colour 5,260 (4,500)