IF you find a Peter Rabbit 50p after rootling through your spare change, it could be your lucky day.
They have been known to sell for way more than their face value – meaning you could make a mint by flogging it to coin collectors.
1
The coins feature author Beatrix Potter’s famous furry character, Peter Rabbit, and a number of them were put into circulation in 2016 and 2018.
It is one of the rarest coins going – and has been known to sell for hundreds of pounds.
Here’s what you need to know about how much you could get for the rare coin.
How rare are Peter Rabbit 50ps?
If a coin is rare, there are not many of them about.
According to Change Checker’s Mintage figures index, the Peter Rabbit 50p is the second rarest coin going.
Around 1.4million of them were released into circulation in 2018, according to Change Checker.
That followed on from an earlier Peter Rabbit coin design that was released into circulation in 2016 – around 9.6million of them to be exact.
The Kew Gardens 50p, minted in 2009, is the rarest 50p coin, with only 210,000 put into circulation – and you can make a killing on them if you find one in your pocket.
However, just because they are rare doesn’t necessarily mean they are in demand.
If a coin is scarce, a lot of people want them.
Peter Rabbit coins, however, are ranked fairly high up on Change Checker’s 50p Scarcity Index.
The coins have an index rating of 44 out of 100 – with 100 being the most in demand, and 1 being the least.
If a coin is both rare and scarce, it can usually bump up how much it is worth.
This is because not a lot of the coins are around but a lot of people want them – so you could find collectors lock horns in bidding wars for the coin.
Rare coins and valuable notes – is yours worth a mint?
How much are Peter Rabbit 50ps worth?
Peter Rabbit coins that were released into circulation in 2016 have been known to sell up to £840 on eBay.
But we haven’t spotted Peter Rabbit 50ps going for as much as this recently.
A 2018 Peter Rabbit 50p sold for £7.50 in August on eBay, whereas one from 2016 sold for £2.50 earlier this month.
It might be worth holding onto your coin in the hope that demand for it increases – and nudges the price up.
Or, if you have a big collection, it might be worth selling it as part of this.
How to check if your small change is worth anything
If you think that you might have a rare coin then you might be able to make a real mint.
The most valuable coins are usually those with a low mintage or an error. These are often deemed the most valuable by collectors.
You can check how much the coin is selling for on eBay, by searching the full name of the coin, select the “sold” listing and then toggle the search to “highest value”.
It will give you an idea of the amount of money that the coin is going for. But it’s not always the case that a coin has sold for the amount is was listed for.
Coins are really only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.
Sometimes collectors are willing to pay more for a coin if they need it to collect a set.
You can either choose to sell the coin on eBay or through a specialist like ChangeChecker.org.
If you choose the auction website then remember to set a minimum price that is higher or at the very least equal to the face value of the coin.
Even if your coin “sells” on eBay for a high price there’s no guarantee that the buyer will cough up.
It its terms and conditions, the auction website states that bidders enter a “legally binding contract to purchase an item”, but there’s no way to enforce this rule in reality.
The most eBay can do is add a note to their account for the unpaid item or remove their ability to bid and buy.
Rare coin dealer claims raiders nicked £500,000 collection from his hotel suite at London’s Park Lane Hilton
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun Money team?
Email us at [email protected]
