Winnie the Pooh is 100, and the Royal Mint debuts the first in a three-coin collection celebrating the anniversary

The Royal Mint continues its expansive run of pop-culture fifty pence coins with the debut of the first in a new three-coin collection celebrating the centennial anniversary of A.A. Milne’s classic children’s tale, Winnie the Pooh. Published in 1926, and followed two years later with a sequel, The House at Pooh Corner, they were illustrated by E.H. Shepard, and very successful. In 1961, the characters were licensed by the Walt Disney Company, who spent the next 60 years producing a string of hit features. Winnie the Pooh will enter the public domain in the UK at the end of this year, and already has in the US.

This time around, we have a trio of new Disney-designed coins, possibly the last of them given the upcoming public domain status, and they will be launched as the year progresses. The first one is available today, and is titled ‘Kindness’, a nod to the bears gentle personality. It features an image of Winnie holding a bunch of flowers, picked from Hundred Acre Wood, no doubt. The obverse carries the usual effigy of King Charles III, surrounded by the issue inscriptions.

Like all the 50 pence coins, the silver variant is struck in 8 grams of sterling silver, and has character colouring over a cleanly struck background. The 22kt gold coin remains uncoloured and is heavier at half an ounce, which unfortunately saddles it with a £2,420 price tag. The mintage of just 135 pieces (100 of which are in this solo boxed form), will keep it attractive to collectors, we suspect. All variants come boxed with a COA. The ubiquitous base-metal pairing is back, in uncoloured form with an
unlimited mintage, for £15, and in coloured form for £25, with a mintage cap of 15,001 in this form.