2000 Millennium Incuse Flag Fifty Cent

The 2000 millennium fifty cent with the incused English cross in the Union Jack is a modern rarity in high grade. It owes its existence to an aborted plan to issue a coloured version of the coin for circulation. When the decision was made to issue the coin without colour, the mint altered the dies, as the dies longer needed to accommodate colour in the design. As a result, most coins have the normal or raised English cross in the flag. The small number struck with the original dies have become very collectable. None were issued in mint sets, so almost all show evidence of circulation. The few that exist in mint state survived by sheer luck in rolls or otherwise did not circulate extensively. These are now rare. The coin photographed here is the equal-finest graded by PCGS, with just one other example available in this grade (3/26). It was sourced out of a roll from one of our Melbourne sources, and is the nicest example sighted by this cataloguer in recent times. It is a modern rarity, and one to put aside in our view.