Peter Rabbit and Friends - UK Fifty Pences Prove Popular - Prices Leap

I believe most Coin Talkers are U.S. based, and may not have noticed a U.K. Royal Mint recent success story.

They are making a series of 5 designs to commemorate the
150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter.
The first featured Beatrix Potter.
The other coins in the series are
Peter Rabbit,
Squirrel Nutkin,
Jemima Puddle-Duck and
Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

All five are or were available in a cupro-nickel "B.U." version, while the 4 character coins were also available in a silver proof coloured version.
When the Peter Rabbit ones went on sale via the Royal Mint's website, it quickly became overloaded, and there was a queuing system, and a wait to access it of several thousand people and up to a half hour.
The issue sold out in about 9 days, following which the price shot up from £55 original retail issue price to as high as £800 (actual selling price) on ebay, although one greedy (I.M.O.) dealer was asking about £4000 for a slabbed one.
It seems that the Mint were caught unaware, and only made a small production run of the coloured Peter Rabbits before they went on sale in early March. Anybody ordering after these had sold is still waiting, and we believe they may have to wait until June, July or even August until they receive them (if at all!). The British Royal Mint is not very customer conscious when it comes to communicating with the people who pay the bulk of their wages (collectors), but then they do have a monopoly.
they usually threaten to sue me for defamation whenever I say anything mildly critical of them.
I have not uploaded a photo, as the Mint have already threatened to sue us for copyright infringement.