Collectors Clamor for Rare Queen Elizabeth Coins and Notes

A Canadian $20 note from 1935, featuring a portrait 8-years-old Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth), which will be auctioned later this month is seen in this undated handout picture provided September 20, 2022. (Sean Isaacs/Handout via Reuters)
A Canadian $20 note from 1935, featuring a portrait 8-years-old Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth), which will be auctioned later this month is seen in this undated handout picture provided September 20, 2022. (Sean Isaacs/Handout via Reuters)
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Collectors Clamor for Rare Queen Elizabeth Coins and Notes

A Canadian $20 note from 1935, featuring a portrait 8-years-old Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth), which will be auctioned later this month is seen in this undated handout picture provided September 20, 2022. (Sean Isaacs/Handout via Reuters)
A Canadian $20 note from 1935, featuring a portrait 8-years-old Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth), which will be auctioned later this month is seen in this undated handout picture provided September 20, 2022. (Sean Isaacs/Handout via Reuters)

The death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth has collectors scrambling to secure rare coins and bills bearing her likeness, even as her portrait is set to remain in circulation for years to come on money throughout the Commonwealth.

Coin dealers say demand for rare-issue notes and coins - such as a pre-World War II Canadian $20 bill featuring Elizabeth as a child or Australia's Platinum Jubilee 50-cent coin - has surged since the queen died in Scotland on Sept. 8.

Queries have been coming in from both seasoned collectors and novices eager to commemorate the death of Britain's longest-reigning monarch, who appears on a record 33 currencies around the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

"There's been an incredible upsurge in demand," said Peter Hutchison, heritage coin specialist at Hattons of London, adding he is fielding queries from as far away as Australia.

In highest demand are limited-issue coins that were sold to collectors in the first place. Prices are rising as seasoned numismatists try to fill gaps in their collections and newcomers join in, said Hutchinson.

"I think we'll see them increase a considerable amount more now as more people enter the market and try to chase them down," he said.

"It just takes enough people on eBay to chase the price up."

In Australia, coin expert Joel Kandiah posted a video on TikTok this week saying the value of the country's 2013 Purple Coronation $2 coin had "shot up" to up to A$180 ($120).

At Alliance Coin & Banknote in Almonte, Ontario, owner Sean Isaacs is preparing for an auction this month featuring some "significant" royal-themed items, including the 1935 Canadian $20 bill featuring then-Princess Elizabeth at the age of 8.

"It's one of the top 10 most desirable notes of the 20th century anyways, so I'll be interested to see if there's an above and beyond fervor around those notes," he said.

The bills Isaacs plans to auction range in estimated value from about C$300 ($226) to "a couple thousand" dollars each, based on their condition. A rare French version of the note without faults could fetch C$18,000 to C$22,000, he said.

Advance activity is strong, with the auction night expected to be the best gauge of interest, he said. In a separate online auction, a 1935 $20 bill featuring Elizabeth was being bid at C$2,100 with 10 days to go.

Long wait

Looking ahead, Isaacs expects a rush of interest in any commemorative coins issued to celebrate the queen's reign. He is also eager to see the first coins featuring Charles as king.

"That will be another momentous day in collecting," said Isaacs.

But it could be some time before coins and bills displaying King Charles find their way into people's pocketbooks, particularly outside Britain.

Central banks in Canada, Australia and New Zealand have all said bills featuring Queen Elizabeth will remain in circulation for years to come. Canada's mint says it will continue to strike 2022-dated coins as needed to supply the market.

New Australian coins will eventually feature King Charles, though not anytime soon, according to the Royal Australian Mint. "Historically, coins bearing a new Sovereign's effigy were released approximately 12 months after coronation," it said.

Indeed, Commonwealth countries looking to use King Charles' image on coins and notes will likely find themselves in a queue behind Britain.

The Royal Mint and Bank of England have not yet given any details, but experts anticipate that once the mourning period ends work will be underway on designs, including preparing and approving a portrait of King Charles.

"My guess is this process will take a minimum of four months and possibly up to six," said Hutchinson, adding: "They will usually aim to have the new coinage and banknotes out before the coronation or in time for the coronation."

No date has been set for King Charles's coronation.



Scientists in Mexico Develop Tortilla for People with No Fridge

Dr. Raquel Gomez Pliego prepares "super tortillas" at the Industrial Microbiology laboratory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Carl de Souza / AFP)
Dr. Raquel Gomez Pliego prepares "super tortillas" at the Industrial Microbiology laboratory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Carl de Souza / AFP)
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Scientists in Mexico Develop Tortilla for People with No Fridge

Dr. Raquel Gomez Pliego prepares "super tortillas" at the Industrial Microbiology laboratory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Carl de Souza / AFP)
Dr. Raquel Gomez Pliego prepares "super tortillas" at the Industrial Microbiology laboratory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Carl de Souza / AFP)

Peering through a microscope, food scientist Raquel Gomez studies microorganisms that add nutrients and preserve tortillas for several weeks without refrigerators -- a luxury in impoverished Mexican communities.

The humble tortilla is a Mexican staple, consumed in tacos and other dishes by millions every day, from the Latin American nation's arid northern deserts to its tropical southern jungle.

Most Mexicans buy fresh corn tortillas from small neighborhood shops.

The wheat flour version developed by Gomez and her team contains probiotics -- live microorganisms found in yogurt and other fermented foods.

As well as the nutritional benefits, the fermented ingredients mean the tortilla can be kept for up to a month without refrigeration, much longer than a homemade one, according to its creators.

It was developed "with the most vulnerable people in mind," Gomez, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), told AFP in her laboratory.

Nearly 14 percent of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition in Mexico, according to official figures.

In Indigenous communities, the figure is around 27 percent.

The tortilla developed by Gomez is not yet commercially available, but it could benefit people like Teresa Sanchez.

The 46-year-old housewife smokes meat using a wood-burning stove in her house with wooden walls and a metal roof.

Like most of her neighbors in the town of Oxchuc, in the southern state of Chiapas, Sanchez has no refrigerator, so she uses the methods handed down by her Indigenous Tzeltal ancestors.

"My mother taught me and grandparents always do it this way," she told AFP.

"Where are you going to get a refrigerator if there's no money?"

Less than two-thirds of people in Chiapas, a poverty-plagued region with a large Indigenous population, have a refrigerator -- the lowest among Mexico's 32 states.

The average maximum temperature in Chiapas rose from 30.1 to 32 degrees Celsius between 2014 and 2024, according to official estimates.

Half of its territory is considered vulnerable to climate change.

While Oxchuc is located in a mountainous, temperate area, the lack of refrigerators forces its inhabitants to rely on traditional food preservation methods.

"We think about what we're going to eat and how many of us there are. We boil it, and if there's some left over, we boil it again," Sanchez said.

Sometimes meat is salted and left to dry under the sun.

Tortillas are stored in containers made from tree bark.

For that reason, Sanchez only shops for the bare necessities, although her budget is limited anyway.

"I don't have that much money to buy things," she said.

Gomez and her team use prebiotics -- which are mainly found in high-fiber foods -- to feed probiotic cultures and produce compounds beneficial to health, she said.

Thanks to the fermented ingredients, no artificial preservatives are needed in the laboratory developed tortilla, Gomez said.

That is another benefit because such additives have potentially toxic effects, said Guillermo Arteaga, a researcher at the University of Sonora.

One of the most commonly used additives in processed wheat flour tortillas is calcium propionate, which is considered harmful to the colon's microbiota, Arteaga said.

Although her tortilla is made from wheat flour -- a type eaten mainly in northern Mexico -- Gomez does not rule out using the same method for corn tortillas, which are preferred by many Mexicans but can go bad quickly in high temperatures.

The researchers patented their tortilla in 2023. UNAM signed a contract with a company to market the food, but the agreement fell through.

Gomez, who won an award in December from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property, still hopes to find partners to distribute her tortillas.

She is confident that even though they were developed in a laboratory, consumers will still want to eat them.