The Royal Mint has launched the sixth officially licensed, collectible 50-penny coin celebrating Raymond Briggs’ iconic picture book The Snowman.

The Royal Mint’s Christmas coin series celebrates Briggs’s timeless, magical tale of a young boy and his snowman. The story began as a wordless picture book, created and illustrated by the late Raymond Briggs in 1978. Published by Puffin, The Snowman has sold more than 5.5 million copies around the world.

The 2023 issue is the first coin celebrating “The World of the Snowman” to feature the official coinage portrait of King Charles III.

The 2023 design tells the magical story of James, who builds a snowman that magically comes to life. Both embark on an unforgettable adventure. The design team at the Royal Mint combine traditional craftsmanship with innovative digital color printing technology to bring the design to life, keeping true to the hand drawn, nostalgic quality of Robin Shaw’s sketches, which are inspired by Raymond Briggs’s original illustrations, according to the Royal Mint.

Four versions were issued, with three still available Oct. 31.

All four of the coins measure 27.3 millimeters in diameter.

Two Uncirculated copper-nickel versions were issued, plain and with color. Both copper-nickel versions weigh 8 grams. The plain version has unlimited mintage and retails for £11. The colorful version is limited to 10,000 mintage and retails for £20.

A Proof .925 fine silver version weighs 8 grams and also features color. It has a mintage limit of 5,000 pieces and retails for £70.

A Proof .9167 fine gold version weighs 15.5 grams. It sold out its mintage of 100 pieces at £1,220 each.

To order, visit the Royal Mint website, www.royalmint.com.

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