IF you’re checking your change for the new King Charles III coins, it’s worth taking a closer look at what else is in your pocket.
You might just find a coin that’s worth hundreds of pounds.
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Every year thousands exchange hands on eBay and other auction sites. But don’t be dazzled by fool’s gold.
Coins that commemorate big occasions like the upcoming coronation might not be worth as much as you’d think.
Here Alice Grahns explains how to cash in on your coin jar and what to watch out for when selling online . . .
WHAT MAKES COINS VALUABLE
KEY factors determining the value of a coin are its rarity, condition, design and what it’s made from, said Rebecca Morgan, director of collector services at The Royal Mint.
The mintage is the number of coins of a particular type that have been produced and the lower this number the rarer the coin.
You can find the mintage for different types of coin on RoyalMint.com.
Wear and tear can also impact value.
Rebecca added: “The closer a coin is to ‘mint condition’ (the condition it was in when it came off the production line at The Royal Mint) the higher its value could be.”
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Coins are sometimes given a grade by sellers, such as “fine”, “very fine”, “extremely fine”, and “uncirculated”.
An unusual design can also impact how much a buyer is willing to pay for your coins, while a piece made from gold or silver will inevitably have a higher value.
TYPES OF COIN
THE change in your wallet is known as “circulated” coins, which are released from The Royal Mint to banks and post offices each year.
They’re legal tender.
Commemorative coins are created for collectors to celebrate key events and anniversaries.
They’re also officially legal tender, but they’re not designed for general circulation, so shops and banks don’t have to accept them.
Some post offices may be willing to exchange them.
Proof coins are commemorative pieces of the highest quality.
Error coins feature mistakes or missing details, which can happen during the minting process and they’re often scarce.
DUD COINS TO AVOID
INTEREST can change from one day to the next, especially around anniversaries and key events, and you’re not guaranteed to be quids in.
For example, commemorative coins from royal weddings are unlikely to make you any substantial cash.
The Royal Mint changed the face value of crowns from 25p to £5 in 1990.
So the commemorative coin to mark then Prince Charles’ and Diana’s wedding in 1981 had a face value of 25p. In November, a set of two of these coins sold for just over £4 on eBay.
Meanwhile the seller of a £5 commemorative coin for Prince William and Kate’s 2011 wedding made £5.50 on the auction site late last year.
The £5 coin for Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding recently sold for £5.72.
If you have any of these coins, it’s better to treat them as keepsakes and not expect to turn a profit.
Colin Bellamy, of Coin Hunter, said lots of commemorative ones have dropped in value in recent years, while a few have soared.
As ever, values are difficult to predict.
The key to remember is that it’s a hobby, and not an investment.
A CHANGING MARKET
SELLING your coins can be an easy way to boost your bank balance, if they are just gathering dust.
However, Colin warned that it’s getting harder to make money from circulated ones.
He said: “Seven years ago, you could go to the bank and grab 50p bags and find rarer coins.
“If you did that today, you’d find nothing as people have already taken the rarer, more valuable ones.”
In other words, your best bet may be to rummage down the back of your own sofa for coins you already have.
SELLING COINS ON EBAY
YOU’RE never guaranteed to make more than face value for your coins, but it could be worth a try.
Before selling, it’s worth checking what buyers have paid for similar ones recently.
Don’t be fooled by the outrageously high prices some sellers put on their coins in the hope that someone will pay.
The “sold listings” section of the site will give you a more realistic idea of what you could make, but there’s still no certainty.
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, you can’t be sure that the buyer will cough up.
In its terms, the auction website states bidders enter a “legally binding contract to purchase an item”, but there’s no way to enforce this.
The most eBay can do is add a note to their account of the unpaid item or block them from buying in future.
Users don’t need to put in valid bank or PayPal details when they sign up to the site in order to make a bid.
If a bidder refuses to pay, then the only option for sellers is to give “second chance offers” to other bidders or re-list the item.
If you sell lots of coins and make more than £1,000 a year in profit, you might need to pay tax depending on your other earnings.
HOW TO SELL ELSEWHERE
IF you have a coin you’d like to auction, you can contact an expert known as a numismatist.
Members of the British Numismatic Trade Association usually deal in very old coins but they might help you determine value.
They’ll usually charge a fee or take a slice of the sale money.
You’ll often have to visit them in person with the coin in order for them to evaluate its value.
Search for members in your area at bnta.net.
‘KEEP THEM LONG ENOUGH AND THE VALUE WILL GO UP’
SAVVY collector Hannah Webb made almost £1,000 to pay for her car insurance by selling three 50p coins.
The veterinary nurse, who lives in the Cotswolds with her fiance Craig, 26, has been collecting since childhood.
The rarest coin she sold was from 2003, one of the first Isle of Man 50p pieces to feature The Snowman, for which she got £450.
She also sold two more 50p pieces from the Isle of Man which featured different scenes from the 12 Days of Christmas, making £250 on each one.
But she still has the very rare Kew Gardens 50p, which she was given as a present in 2009 when it first came out on the 250th anniversary of the London botanical garden.
She also owns the full set of 2012 Olympic coins and each of the subsequent Snowman designs that have been issued since the one she sold.
Hannah, 24, has built up her collection largely by buying new releases from the Royal Mint and she says you never know which will be the rarest in years to come.
She said: “If you keep them long enough their value will only go up. I think all of my coins have some profit in them, albeit not all £450.”
WHAT ARE RARE COINS WORTH?
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2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES NORTHERN IRELAND £2 – £44: Four designs of the £2 were created in 2002 to commemorate the Commonwealth Games.
The Northern Ireland version is the rarest with only 485,500 minted. These sell for up to £44 on eBay.
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2011 EDINBURGH £1 – £7: The rarest pound coin currently in circulation is the Edinburgh £1.
It was part of a series depicting the four capital cities of the UK and is the only £1 coin with a mintage below one million at 935,000.
One sold for £7 on eBay in December.
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2009 KEW GARDENS 50P – £215: Only 210,000 of the Kew Gardens coins were put into circulation in 2009 – fewer than other 50p coins.
Before Christmas, a set of seven circulated Kew Garden 50p coins sold for £1,150 on eBay.
In November, a single circulated coin sold for £215.
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UNDATED 20P – £72: Less than 250,000 20p coins produced by The Royal Mint were struck with no year in 2008/2009.
It was down to a mistake in the minting process.
The error coins are popular among collectors and sell for up to £72 on eBay.
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2018 ALPHABET 10P – £19.99: In 2018, 26 coin designs were released for each letter of the alphabet.
In total, 220,000 of each went into circulation that year, followed by 84,000 in 2019.
The most valuable one is a 2018 “Z” for Zebra. It sold for £19.99 on eBay recently.
