FINDING a rare coin could be a way of making some quick cash – and you may want to make a note of these money spinners.
Coins and notes can be considered rare and valuable for a number of reasons.
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If a coin has a low mintage – which means there weren’t many of them made – then it’s usually considered to be pretty valuable.
But if a coin was manufactured with a mistake or a note has a unique serial number, then it can also be worth more than its face value.
Sometimes bidding wars break out on the most highly sought-after copies so you could be quids in if you find one.
It’s definitely worth checking your own change to see if you have any odd ones that would pique the interest of a collector.
But from one day to the next interest can change, so there’s no hard and fast guarantee you’ll be minted, snapping a rare one up.
In any other circumstance a 50p, for example, is worth exactly that – 50p.
But if a coin or a note features a unique twist, that means it’s more in demand than others and often goes for above face value.
Other listing examples found on eBay can give you a good ballpark figure of how much you could earn though, and some are in the hundreds.
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We’ve taken a look at the highest listings that can be found on eBay currently and ranked the rarest out there.
But remember that buyers can always pull out of sales, which means the coin advertised might not have sold for what it says it has.
Plus there are fakes to look out for as well.
Change experts like Coin Hunter or Change Checker will help you verify if it’s real though.
They can also help place a value on the coin if you’re looking to list it yourself.
Here’s what sellers have managed to rake in from rare coins on the online auction site:
Double Queen head error coin – worth £550
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One standard copy of a 50p coin has been minted with an error that makes it look like a double take.
The coin was struck three times and in a way that looks a bit like two coins are overlapping.
The error means that you can hardly make out the design on either the reverse or obverse, so there’s not much to see of the Queen’s head or the seated Britannia design.
Something has likely gone wrong in the minting process meaning after it was struck once, the coin hasn’t been ejected so it received another strike that it shouldn’t have.
But that flaw has only boosted the value as one copy that had this exact error sold for £550 on eBay last year, as a bidder considered it worth over 1,000 times its face value.
We couldn’t find this exact error coin recently selling on eBay, but we found another coin with the Queen’s head slightly off centre had sold for £32.
Bronze 20p coin – £750
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One mistake turned the normally silver 20p coin bronze, after being struck onto a 1p blank that had slipped into the wrong batch.
These are super rare and aren’t specific to any year, although one from 1987 did crop up which coin site ChangeChecker ended up giving away as a prize.
Coin enthusiast Colin Bellamy, who runs Coin Hunter, has valued these coins at £750 each.
We’ve had a look online to see how much these error – or “mule” – coins sell for.
We found a bronze 20p from 2011 which had sold for £150 on eBay in December.
Kew Gardens 50p – £175
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The 50p Kew Gardens coin features the Chinese Pagoda at the famous London landmark of the same name and makes it into the top three of the rarest coins out there as there are so few of them.
Just 210,000 were released into circulation in 2009.
It’s also one of the most valuable due to its recognisable design and low mintage, with top offers for copies found in people’s change going for almost £200.
On December 6, a circulated Kew Gardens 50p sold for £175.
The coin is no stranger to a high bid though, as at The Sun we’ve previously spotted the Kew Gardens 50p selling for as much as £580.
Olympic Wrestling 50p – £11
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Commemorative 50p coins were made to mark the London 2012 Olympic games and some still attract strong interest from collectors.
The Wrestling 50p was minted in 2011 and features two wrestlers competing in a stadium full of lights and fans.
There are more than 1.1million of these special coins in circulation, according to the Royal Mint.
But while it may be one of the rarest coins, it doesn’t actually go for as much as others.
We found circulated versions of the wrestling 50p selling for around £11 on eBay recently.
But the coin could be worth more to someone if it helps finish off their collection.
£10 with AH17 75 serial number – up to £3,600
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The plastic £10 note that launched just a few years ago could be worth thousands of pounds.
One of the 10 notes was bought for £3,600 a few years ago after the seller noticed it had the serial number AH17 75 – the year of Jane Austen’s birth.
But the most recent example we could find was a £10 with the serial number AA01 622291, which sold for £45 in September on eBay.
Back in 2017, when the Bank of England launched its £10 note featuring Jane Austen, ChangerChecker.com revealed its predictions for the notes that everyone would be keeping an eye out for.
Serial numbers for each note are key – you can find these numbers on the top left of the face with the Queen’s image.
This is just under the £10 value in the corner of the note.
ChangerChecker.com said the serial numbers you need to look out for are:
- The serial numbers 16 121775 and 18 071817 as they represent the author’s date of birth and death.
- The serial number 17 751817 as it’s her birth and death combined
- The 28 011813 as it’s the date when her most celebrated novel, Pride and Prejudice, was first published.
Other serial numbers might be popular with collectors.
James Bond 007 notes and AK47 notes are sought after, as well as notes with consecutive numbers, eg, AA12345.
Some collectors will part with serious cash for the right note.
Collectors are only after specific notes- so it’s important you keep a look out for the more valuable tenners.
If you find a £10 note with an AA serial number, you might be in for a chance to make some big money.
The £5 notes with these numbers could also be valuable.
Interestingly, as the £10 note is slightly larger, there are 54 notes per printing sheet compared to 60 with the £5 note.
This means there are millions of AA combinations that could potentially crop up.
Meanwhile, the Royal Mint has also released an abundance of coins featuring beloved children’s characters.
In August, a coin showing Kanga and Roo from Winnie the Pooh was released.
It joined the Eeyore 50p which launched earlier this year and is part of a collection for the honey-loving bear.
Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit has also been commemorated on a £5 coin.
And it’s not just characters who appear on coins either, with David Bowie and Alan Turing among the famous faces to appear on the currency.
