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.



Swollen Rivers Flood Towns in US South after Dayslong Deluge of Rain

The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Swollen Rivers Flood Towns in US South after Dayslong Deluge of Rain

The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Days of unrelenting heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people worsened flooding as some rivers rose to near-record levels and inundated towns across an already saturated US South and parts of the Midwest.

Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.

“I think everybody was shocked at how quick (the river) actually did come up,” said salon owner Jessica Tuggle, who was watching Monday as murky brown water approached her business in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state capital along the swollen Kentucky River, The AP news reported.

She said that as each new wave of rain arrived over the weekend, anxious residents hoped for a reprieve so they could just figure out how bad things would get and how to prepare. She and friends packed up everything she could haul out of her salon, including styling chairs, hair products and electronics, and they took it all to a nearby tap house up the hill.

“Everybody was just ‘stop raining, stop raining’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.

Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the city as the river was expected to approach a record crest on Monday.

For many, there was a sense of dread that the worst was still to come.

“As long as I’ve been alive — and I’m 52 — this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Wendy Quire, the general manager at the Brown Barrel restaurant downtown.

“The rain just won’t stop,” Quire said Sunday. “It’s been nonstop for days and days.”

Storms leaving devastating impact The 18 reported deaths since the storms began on Wednesday included 10 in Tennessee. A 9-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus. A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said. A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.

The National Weather Service warned Sunday that dozens of locations in multiple states were expected to reach a “major flood stage,” with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.

In north-central Kentucky, emergency officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for Falmouth and Butler, towns near the bend of the rising Licking River. Thirty years ago, the river reached a record 50 feet (15 meters), resulting in five deaths and 1,000 homes destroyed.

The storms come after the Trump administration cut jobs at NWS forecast offices, leaving half of them with vacancy rates of about 20%, or double the level of a decade ago.

Why so much nasty weather? Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

The NWS said 5.06 inches (nearly 13 centimeters) of rain fell Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas — making it the wettest day ever recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, received 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, the NWS said.

Rives, a northwestern Tennessee town of about 200 people, was almost entirely underwater after the Obion River overflowed.

Domanic Scott went to check on his father in Rives after not hearing from him in a house where water reached the doorstep.

“It’s the first house we’ve ever paid off. The insurance companies around here won’t give flood insurance to anyone who lives in Rives because we’re too close to the river and the levees. So if we lose it, we’re kind of screwed without a house,” Scott said.

In Dyersburg, Tennessee, dozens of people arrived over the weekend at a storm shelter near a public school clutching blankets, pillows and other necessities. Just days earlier the city was hit by a tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.

For some, grabbing the essentials also meant taking a closer look at the liquor cabinet.

In Frankfort, with water rising up to his window sills, resident Bill Jones fled his home in a boat, which he loaded with several boxes of bottles of bourbon.