Special edition 50p coins

[Thebookswereherfriends]

Does anyone know if I can go to the bank and just swap pound coins for special edition 50 pences?
I started something I thought would be cute, but am now struggling to keep it going. When my daughter lost her first tooth the “tooth fairy” brought her a special edition 50p - because I happened to have one in my purse and thought my dd would like it. This sweet tradition has continued as luckily I had held onto any “picture” 50ps I came across. My dd is losing teeth quite quickly at the moment and I’m down to my last 2 50p’s. I’ve loooked on ebay but you can only buy them for above their face value and I don’t need rare ones, just any with a picture on.
Anyone got any ideas on where to source a bunch?

You can go to the post office and ‘buy’ a bag of 50ps - Eg: you can pay £10 and get a bag of twenty 50ps. There’s no guarantee of the picture ones but there’s usually some in there. I’ve never asked for the person behind the counter to look for picture ones but if it was quiet and you got the right person maybe they would.

I work for a bank and we don't get special coins sent in from the cash centre, its just what gets paid in. I have £50 worth of special 50ps, but they've been painstakingly collected over a few years when someone paid one in over the counter. It's worth going in asking if the cashier has any in the till, but not that many get paid in, as everyone wants to hold onto them.

Thank you. I will try “buying” a bag of 50p’s from the post office and hoping for a few. It doesn’t matter which ones, so I might be lucky.

Whenever you pay cash anywhere ask the cashier to check if they have any to give you as part of your change, I wouldn’t mind doing it if someone asked me at work. Not so much now with the new money bit when it was paper money I used to get asked quite frequently for “a nice crisp note” as people would be putting it in a card for a birthday.
I do still see a lot of the special edition 50ps coming through the tills at work so you may be lucky!

I've been collecting for a few years now and my way was paying for my groceries with a note and asking for my change in 50 pences. I used to get all sorts but hardly get anything unusual now since most people know about them.

Your best bet is withdrawing an amount in 50 pences at the post office or the bank but it still doesn't guarantee any special coins. My best find was a full bag of 20 Isaac Newtons, some which I've put in circulation, because I hardly ever get them in change alone.

Ask cashiers in supermarkets. They often have them in their tills.