Brexit 50p coin to enter circulation on January 31

COIN collectors will be able to get their hands on a Brexit 50p piece from January 31 as the government has confirmed it will go into circulation then.

Around 3million of the coins, which have been commissioned to commemorate Brexit finally taking place, are expected to be released on this date.

On the tails side of the coin is going to be the inscription: "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations".

It's also expected to detail the historic date the UK is due to leave the EU - January 31, 2020.

The Prime Minister will be one of the first to get his hands on the new coin on the day when he'll be holding a special cabinet meeting at a venue in the north of England.

But the government couldn't tell us where in the country the rest of the coins will first be circulated or exactly what the coin will look like - The Sun has created the above mock-up to give readers an idea.

This is third time lucky for the coin, which was given the Privy Council's seal of approval on December 17, 2019.

The Brexit coins had initially been due to be released on March 31, 2019 when around 1,000 prototypes were made.

A second batch of coins was then manufactured when Brexit was delayed until October 31, 2019.

Both the March version and the October batch have since been recycled, which is where they're melted down and re-made into other coins.

The cost of producing commemorative coins is met by the Royal Mint.

Plans to produce 10,000 special Brexit coins were first announced by former chancellor Philip Hammond in the 2018 Budget, something that has since been taken on by his successor Sajid Javid.

Additional commemorative versions of the new Brexit coin will also be made available by the Royal Mint for collectors to buy, although the price of these has yet to be revealed.

It's hard to place a value on the new coin without knowing exactly how many will go into circulation.

But in comparison, the Kew Gardens design remains the top collector's item - it's the rarest 50p coin after only 210,000 of the coins were struck.

A HM Treasury spokesman said: “We will produce a coin to mark our departure from the European Union.

“This coin will be introduced into circulation on the day the UK leaves the EU.”