Sixty years after the Enterprise first warped across television screens in September 1966, Star Trek has arrived on British coinage. The Royal Mint has released the first of two Star Trek 50p coins for the franchise’s 60th anniversary, a Live Long and Prosper design that went on sale on 3 September, with a second coin carrying four starships from across the saga scheduled for November. Prices start at £19.95.
According to The Royal Mint, these are the first UK coins ever to honour Star Trek, and the timing follows a proven flight path. The Mint says its previous science fiction coin series, launched in 2023, sent close to 800,000 coins into collections across 60 countries. The Star Trek pair is built for that same audience, with a sensible division of labour: one coin for the franchise’s most famous gesture, one for its most beloved hardware. Between them, they cover a fair share of six decades of fan debate.
Live Long and Prosper: a Vulcan salute on a 50p
Anyone who has watched Amok Time knows the first design before they see it. The reverse is built around the Vulcan salute, the split fingered greeting Leonard Nimoy gave Spock, set alongside the inscription LIVE LONG & PROSPER and the anniversary emblem STAR TREK 60. Nimoy drew the gesture from a priestly blessing he had watched as a boy in synagogue, and it has long since outgrown the show that introduced it. There are people who could not name a single Starfleet captain who can still raise that hand. It now sits on an official UK 50p.
The obverse carries Martin Jennings’ portrait of King Charles III, with the legend CHARLES III · D · G · REX · F · D · 50 PENCE · 2026.
The Brilliant Uncirculated edition presents the salute in plain relief, while the colour editions set the hand against a swirl of purple and blue nebula. The standard pack leans fully into the source material: a photograph of Spock in his blue sciences tunic, hand raised, opposite the coin, with a fold out interior featuring the crew across the franchise’s history.
Four ships, four eras
The November coin is the one that will get Trekkies counting nacelles. Its reverse unites four spacecraft under the STAR TREK 60 emblem, and the selection spans the franchise with real care:
- U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, Kirk’s ship, the one that started it all in 1966.
- U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, Picard’s Galaxy class flagship from The Next Generation.
- U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656, Janeway’s Intrepid class ship, flung 70,000 light years into the Delta Quadrant.
- The Klingon Bird of Prey, a design that has spent four decades decloaking at the least convenient moment possible.
Including a Klingon vessel on a Federation heavy anniversary coin is a thoughtful touch; the Empire has been part of the story almost as long as Starfleet has. The absences are just as telling. There is no Defiant, no Discovery, no Cerritos, and that argument will doubtless run in convention bars for the next 60 years.
Colour, then and now
The use of colour on both coins is more than decoration. When Star Trek premiered in 1966, colour television sets were only just reaching American homes, and the show’s uniforms were deliberately vivid so they would pop on those new screens: command gold, sciences blue, operations red. The Mint frames the nebula colouring on the coins as the same idea carried forward, painting the unexplored reaches of space Kirk’s crew set out to chart so the designs stand out today the way those tunics did then.
It is a neat piece of reasoning, and a fair one. Star Trek was always a show that understood its medium.
Star Trek 50p coin editions and prices
The range comes in four finishes. Each is offered as a two-coin set, reserved now and billed one coin at a time as each is released, with free UK postage following each launch date. The Live Long and Prosper coin is also sold on its own in every finish, and the Brilliant Uncirculated Colour edition is tagged on the product page as a Royal Mint exclusive.
For the entry level Brilliant Uncirculated edition, the Mint lists a full two-coin collection price of £39.90.
| Edition | Colour | Edition limit | Price per coin | Two-coin set total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brilliant Uncirculated | No | None listed | £19.95 | £39.90 |
| Brilliant Uncirculated Colour | Yes | None listed | £29.95 | £59.90 |
| Silver Proof Colour | Yes | 5,000 | £99.50 | £199.00 |
| Gold Proof | No | 100 | £2,495.00 | £4,990.00 |
The limits tell their own story. The Silver Proof Colour edition, at 5,000, is a proper limited issue without being unobtainable, and its presentation box carries the Star Trek 60 branding. The Gold Proof, struck in what the Mint describes as 100% recycled gold, is limited to 100 pieces, only 21 more than The Original Series had broadcast episodes. For the Gold Proof collector, the dreaded sellout is a genuine prospect rather than a marketing line.
The Mint has also stocked its Star Trek shop with starship models to sit beside the coins, including the original Enterprise NCC-1701, the refit and NCC-1701-A versions from the films, and a Klingon Bird of Prey in its HMS Bounty guise, the name McCoy gave the stolen ship in The Voyage Home. Prices run from £39.99 to £64.99, and the Enterprise-D model is already listed as no longer available. A fan competition and a register of interest for Star Trek pin badges round out the launch.
A Head of Fandom and a franchise of numbers
The launch is fronted by Tim Mulhall, whose title at The Royal Mint, Head of Fandom, would not look out of place on a Starfleet duty roster. He called it “a privilege for The Royal Mint to boldly go,” and described the 50p as a keepsake designed for fans who grew up alongside the franchise. For Paramount, Ruth Henriquez, Vice President of Products and Experiences for EMEA, pointed to Star Trek’s famously devoted collectors and to the particular affection British fans hold for the franchise as the reason the partnership made sense.
The numbers behind it are formidable. Since that first episode in September 1966, Star Trek has grown to 12 series, more than 950 episodes and 14 films that together took over $2 billion at the box office. The Mint also notes that some 413,000 people are currently learning Klingon on Duolingo, that eight asteroids carry the franchise’s name, and that the first space orbiter was named in its honour. Qapla’.
Where no 50p has gone before
The UK 50p has become the Royal Mint’s favourite canvas for popular culture, but Star Trek’s arrival carries its own weight. This is a franchise that has spent 60 years insisting the future could be better than the present, and it now sits on the most traditional collectable object Britain produces. For fans, the £19.95 Live Long and Prosper coin is an easy way aboard. For serious collectors, the 5,000 piece silver proof and the 100 piece gold proof are where the real competition will be. And with the starship coin still to launch in November, the Star Trek 50p coin story is only on its first mission. Live long and prosper.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Royal Mint Star Trek 50p coin? The Royal Mint Star Trek 50p coin is one of two UK 50p coins released in 2026 to mark the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. The first shows the Vulcan salute with the words Live Long & Prosper and Star Trek 60, and the second shows four starships from across the franchise. The Royal Mint describes them as the first UK coins to honour Star Trek.
When is the second Star Trek 50p coin released? The second coin, featuring four spacecraft, is due in November 2026. The Royal Mint has not given an exact day. The first coin, Live Long and Prosper, went on sale on 3 September 2026.
How much do the Star Trek 50p coins cost? Prices start at £19.95 per coin for the Brilliant Uncirculated edition. The Brilliant Uncirculated Colour edition is £29.95 per coin, the Silver Proof Colour edition is £99.50 per coin, and the Gold Proof edition is £2,495.00 per coin. Two-coin sets are billed one coin at a time as each is released.
How many Star Trek gold and silver proof 50p coins are being made? The Silver Proof Colour edition is limited to 5,000 and the Gold Proof edition is limited to 100. The Royal Mint does not list an edition limit for either Brilliant Uncirculated version.
Which starships are on the Star Trek 60 coin? The second coin shows four spacecraft: the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, the Enterprise NCC-1701-D, the U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656 and a Klingon Bird of Prey. They appear together with the Star Trek 60 anniversary emblem.
Is Spock on the Star Trek 50p coin? Not as a portrait. The coin itself shows a hand making the Vulcan salute, the gesture Leonard Nimoy created for Spock, rather than Spock’s face. A photograph of Spock appears on the packaging of the Brilliant Uncirculated coin.
Can I reserve both Star Trek 50p coins at once? Yes. The Royal Mint offers each finish as a two-coin set that can be reserved now, with payment taken as each coin is released and free UK postage after each launch date. For the Brilliant Uncirculated edition, the full two-coin collection price is £39.90.
