It is worth keeping an eye on your loose change though, as recently a number of rare coins have been selling for eye-watering money – recently on sold for a whopping £3,700 on eBay
A rare 50p coin has sold for £2,500 after a bidding war was sparked on eBay.
It is worth keeping an eye on your loose change though, as recently a number of rare coins have been selling for eye-watering money. The coin in question is a 50p coin created by the Royal Mint to commemorate the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The coin depicts a swimmer and when it was originally designed, it had wavy lines covering the swimmer’s face. However, there was a redesign in 2011 which changed this so the swimmer’s face was more visible. According to the Royal Mint, around 600 coins were commissioned with the original design and accidentally released. This makes them incredibly sought after by coin collectors.
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One of these coins was sold on eBay last month for a whopping £3,700. The listing was named: “2011 Olympic 50p AQUATICS Swimming ERROR LINES OVER FACE Rare NGC MS66 DPL”. The seller may not have known how special this coin was as it was first listed on the secondhand site on July 28 for a tiny 99p.
The first bid came in a mere 15 minutes later for £2.50, then the bidding war began. Over the course of seven days 74 bids were placed on the coin with the winning bid coming in at the very last second for £3,766. Alongside, the £9.95 cost for the express delivery, this eBay seller made a whopping £3,775.95.
This case is a reminder that it’s always important to check your change as you never know what might find its way in there. If you find yourself in possession of a rare coin you may want to follow others and sell it. However, selling a coin is never guaranteed to make you a mint and a coin is only ever worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
A coin expert, known as ‘Christopher Collects’ on YouTube, said: “The Aquatics 50p with the lines over the face is about as rare as UK 50p coins get. It blows even the Kew Gardens 50p out of the water. It would be the centerpiece of any 50p coin collection within what is already a really popular set of Olympic coins.”
However, if you are a collector, then you should also keep in mind that fake coins can appear online too, so always be wary before handing over any cash. Websites and Facebook groups from change experts like Coin Hunter can help you work out if a coin is the real deal or not. You can also get coins verified by the Royal Mint.
