Royal Mint announce four new coloured Beatrix Potter 50p coins
It's not an April Fool!
The Royal Mint has announced a new set of four 50p coins will be released and there is something unique about them. They are coloured! While it sounds like an April Fool, rest assured it isn't.
Today (3rd April) the Peter Rabbit collectable coin will be available to buy, with the other three designs released later this year.
The set of four 50p coins will supplement the collection of 50p coins released last year, to mark the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter's birth.
The Royal Mint broke the news earlier today and immediately thousands of people rushed to the website, causing it to crash.
Hours later and the website is still massively in demand with a long queue in place. At the time of writing the wait was over an hour to access the website, and they have stopped taking orders. A statement on the queuing page says,
'Thank you for your patience. Due to the phenomenal success of our newest Peter Rabbit coin, we believe we are fully reserved on the silver proof coin and as such we have stopped taking orders today. However, we are reviewing all orders for duplicates so watch this space and check in for an update tomorrow morning.'
The beautiful coins are based on the hand-painted style of Beatrix Potter's original illustrations, including Peter Rabbit with his iconic blue jacket, Jeremy Fisher's red jacket, Tom Kitten's blue pyjamas and Benjamin Bunny's green hat.
Jeremy Fisher and Tom Kitten © Royal Mint
Benjamin Button © Royal Mint