The Royal Mint has put Elphaba’s hat on a 50p. The Wicked 2026 UK 50p went on sale at 9am on 17 September 2026, an officially licensed collection released in partnership with the West End production to mark 20 years since the musical opened at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre.
On the face of it this is a familiar move from Llantrisant, the licensed pop culture commemorative aimed at an audience that does not otherwise collect coins. Two things make it worth a closer look. The reverse does something more considered than a logo and a broomstick. And the range runs from £15 to £2,420, taking in a signed print and a chocolate advent calendar on the way.
The clock at the centre
The reverse is the work of Royal Mint designer Ffion Rees. At the centre, Elphaba’s hat and broomstick form the hands of a Roman numeral clock face. Around them sit the props an audience would name without prompting: Glinda’s wand and shoes, the Grimmerie, a flying monkey, and the Wizard in his hot air balloon. The palette is the show’s own green and pink, carried across the colour printed editions.
The clock is the choice worth pausing on, because it is not the generic anniversary device it looks like. Eugene Lee’s Tony winning scenic design for Wicked took the Clock of the Time Dragon from Gregory Maguire’s novel and built the entire stage picture around it, embedding gears, cogs and clock faces through the set pieces. Lee described the clock as the image that defined his approach to the show. Anyone who has sat in the Apollo Victoria has spent an evening looking at cogs. The Mint’s own release does not draw the line between the two, but the design does.
The obverse carries Martin Jennings’s portrait of King Charles III, with the inscription CHARLES III D G REX F D 50 PENCE 2026.
Six ways into the Wicked 2026 UK 50p
| Edition | Metal and finish | Limit | Price | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50p Brilliant Uncirculated | Cupro-nickel, 8.00 g | Not published | £15.00 | UK26WKBU |
| 50p Brilliant Uncirculated Colour | Cupro-nickel, colour printed, Royal Mint exclusive | Not published | £27.50 | Not listed |
| 50p Silver Proof Colour | .925 silver, Proof, 8.00 g | 4,000 (maximum mintage 4,012) | £92.50 | UK26WKSP |
| 50p Gold Proof | 916.67 gold, Proof, 15.50 g | 75 (maximum mintage 85) | £2,420.00 | UK26WKGP |
| Limited Edition Print | Paper, 10″ x 8″, signed | 250 | £250.00 | UK26WKPR |
| Advent Calendar | 23 chocolate coins plus one BU colour 50p | 2,250 | £39.95 | UK26WKAD |
Every coin in the range is 27.30mm, the standard 50p diameter, and the silver and cupro-nickel strikes share the standard 8.00 g weight. The gold proof runs to 15.50 g.
The structure is the one the Mint has settled into for licensed properties. A £15 base metal entry point that anybody can afford, a colour printed version at £27.50 sold only through the Mint, a colour printed silver proof at £92.50 presented in an acrylic display block, and a gold proof at the top that is available to order rather than in stock, with shipping quoted for early February. Packaging across the range takes its cues from the London staging rather than the 2024 film, which is the right call for an anniversary tied to a specific theatre.
Recycled gold, and the deadline attached to it
The gold proof is struck in recycled gold, which the product listing puts at 100%. The Royal Mint frames this as part of a wider commitment, and attaches a date to it: the intention is to extend recycled gold across the whole collectable gold range by the end of 2026.
That is a stated target with three months left to run at the time of writing, and it makes the Wicked gold proof a useful marker. Collectors who want to know whether the commitment holds now have a dated line to measure the rest of the year’s gold releases against.
The print, the Wicked advent calendar, and where the pressure sits
Two items in the range are not coins at all, and one of them is the scarcest thing here after the gold.
The limited edition print is capped at 250, reproduces the reverse design at 10″ x 8″, carries a Certificate of Authenticity, and is signed by Ffion Rees. Designer signed material from the Mint has historically been thin on the ground, and 250 is a small number in a range where the base coin has no published ceiling at all.
The advent calendar is capped at 2,250 and had not opened for sale at launch, with the Mint taking registrations of interest instead. Behind door 24 sits a Wicked 2026 UK 50p Brilliant Uncirculated Colour Coin, with 23 chocolate coins filling the rest. It gives the colour coin a second route to market at £39.95, and it will be the version most likely to be opened, eaten around and separated from its packaging, which is worth remembering in five years when intact examples are being described as scarce.
On the numbers themselves, the Mint publishes two figures for the precious metal strikes and they do not match: an edition limit of 4,000 against a maximum coin mintage of 4,012 for the silver, and a limit of 75 against a maximum of 85 for the gold. Both figures come from the Mint’s own product pages. The edition limit is what is offered for sale.
What 20 years actually buys
The anniversary the coin marks is precise. Wicked opened at the Apollo Victoria on 27 September 2006, following previews from early that month, which puts the 17 September launch 10 days ahead of the date itself. In the two decades since, the Mint reports the show has been performed more than 7,500 times in London, seen by almost 14 million people in the capital and more than 72 million worldwide.
What the Wicked 2026 UK 50p commemorates, then, is not really a musical. It is the moment a Broadway import stopped being a visitor and became a fixture of the West End, long enough to outlast the theatre’s refurbishment, a pandemic closure and a two part film adaptation. Whether the coin follows the Harry Potter and Paddington 50ps into sustained secondary market demand will be settled by the two numbers the Mint has chosen not to cap. For now, the more interesting thing on the coin is the clock, and the fact that somebody at the Mint knew why it belonged there.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Wicked 2026 UK 50p? It is an officially licensed UK 50p coin issued by The Royal Mint in partnership with the West End production of Wicked, marking 20 years since the musical opened at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre. The reverse, designed by Ffion Rees, shows Elphaba’s hat and broomstick as the hands of a Roman numeral clock face, surrounded by icons from the show. It launched on 17 September 2026.
Will the Wicked 50p go into circulation? No circulating version has been announced. The collection as launched is sold by The Royal Mint in collector finishes only: Brilliant Uncirculated, colour printed Brilliant Uncirculated, silver proof colour, and gold proof. You will not find one in your change.
How much does the Wicked 2026 UK 50p cost? Prices start at £15.00 for the Brilliant Uncirculated coin and £27.50 for the colour printed Brilliant Uncirculated version. The silver proof colour coin is £92.50, and the gold proof is £2,420.00. The signed limited edition print is £250.00 and the advent calendar is £39.95.
How many Wicked 50p coins were made? The silver proof colour coin has an edition limit of 4,000 and the gold proof a limit of 75. The Royal Mint also publishes a maximum coin mintage for each, 4,012 and 85 respectively, which runs slightly above the edition limit. No edition limit has been published for either Brilliant Uncirculated version.
Why is there a clock on the Wicked coin? The clock face is the design’s link back to the staging rather than the story. Eugene Lee’s set design for Wicked is built around the Clock of the Time Dragon from Gregory Maguire’s novel, with gears, cogs and clock faces worked through the set. The Royal Mint has not stated this as the source, but the visual language matches what audiences see at the Apollo Victoria.
Is the Wicked gold coin made from recycled gold? Yes. The Royal Mint states that the gold proof is struck using 100% recycled gold, and that it is working to extend recycled gold across its entire collectable gold coin range by the end of 2026.
What is in the Wicked advent calendar? The calendar holds 23 chocolate coins and one Wicked 2026 UK 50p Brilliant Uncirculated Colour Coin behind door 24. It is limited to 2,250, priced at £39.95, and measures 238mm by 390mm. At launch it was not yet on sale, with The Royal Mint accepting registrations of interest.
Who designed the Wicked 2026 UK 50p? The reverse was designed by Ffion Rees of The Royal Mint. The obverse carries the definitive portrait of King Charles III by Martin Jennings. Rees also signed the 250 limited edition prints that accompany the release.
