A coin that is a dictionary entry: instead of a portrait or a coat of arms, the reverse of this 50p carries the definitions of fifty and pence exactly as Samuel Johnson gave them in his Dictionary of the English Language of 1755. The Royal Mint issued it in 2005 for the dictionary’s 250th anniversary.

The reverse was designed by the artist Tom Phillips. The entry FIFTY carries the grammatical label adj. and a note on the word’s Saxon origin, while PENCE is defined as plural of penny. Square brackets even reproduce the old form of the word, just as in the dictionary itself. The signature JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY 1755 and a large numeral 50 complete the composition. The obverse carries Ian Rank-Broadley’s crowned portrait of Elizabeth II, used on the fifty pence from 1998 to 2015.

Johnson’s Dictionary contained 40,000 words and more than 114,000 quotations, from Shakespeare to Milton, used to illustrate meanings. Widely regarded as one of the most influential works in the history of the English language, it set a new standard for lexicography and influenced later dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary and Noah Webster’s American dictionaries.

The circulation mintage was 17,649,000, almost twice that of the 2004 fifty pence celebrating Bannister’s record (9,032,500). In 2013 Tom Phillips turned to lettering on the fifty pence again, for the centenary of the composer Benjamin Britten, and the two coins sit naturally side by side. For a collection on literature and language, this is a coin whose main image is the text itself.

F-VF sits between Fine and Very Fine: wear is even and noticeable, the high points of the relief are clearly worn, yet the main details and inscriptions remain legible. The large headwords and the numeral 50 remain distinct, while the smaller labels may be softened by wear, the usual picture for a coin that has been through circulation.

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