The mystery of the missing date: The 20p(£0.20) I still can’t find...
Dateless 20 pence coin
Every collector, myself included, has that one elusive piece; the one coin that sits at the top of the “must have” list, yet somehow remains stubbornly outof reach. For me, that coin is the infamous dateless 20p, a Royal Mint blunder that slipped quietly into circulation in 2008–2009 and has since become one of the UK’s most fascinating modern rarities. When the Mint redesigned UK coinage in 2008, the idea was straight forward: introduce the new shield reverse design, pair it with updated obverses, and keep the coinage looking sharp. But somehow, some of the old Queen’s portrait designs, which didn’t carry a date, were struck with the new shield reverse, which also lacked a date. The result? A batch of 20p coins with no date at all. For the first time in more than 300 years, an undated coin entered circulation.
Collectors call it the “mule” 20p, and estimates sugest perhaps 50,000 to200,000 were minted before anyone noticed. At first, they were changing hands for hundreds of pounds as the frenzy hit. Prices have cooled since, but the demand has never really gone away. It’s an error coin with history and intrigue — and of course, that irresistible mystique of chance: these were found not in presentation packs, but in everyday pocket change.
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And that’s where my story comes in. Despite years of checking, sifting, and hunting through change (and yes, even withdrawing £1,000 in 50p coins from the bank before, just to search through them), I still don’t own one. Every now and then I’ll get a flicker of hope when a 20p lands in my hand — but inevitably, the date is sitting there as it should. The blank-faced prize continues to elude me. What makes this search feel even more urgent now is the world we’re moving into. The push towards a “cashless society” means fewer coins are being spent, swapped, or even minted for circulation. As pocket change becomes rarer in itself, so too do the chances of finding treasures like the dateless 20p hiding in a handful of silver-coloured coins from the corner shop.
Over £280 worth of kept 20p coins - NO UNDATED FOUND
Will I ever find one? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s the magic of numismatics — it’s about more than just owning shiny pieces of metal. It’s about the chase, the history, the stories, and the way one tiny error can ripple through time to capture the imagination of thousands. So yes, the dateless 20p is still missing from my collection. And maybe that’s part of its power. Because every time I’m handed a coin in change, I still feel that small spark of excitement — could this be the one?
