10P COINS may be worth more than what we see at face value.
If you want to make a small fortune, it’s worth keeping an eye out for the rarest and most valuable in circulation. Here’s how much you could earn.
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Coin website Change Checker last updated its scarcity index in February this year, tracking which rare coins and valuable notes are worth the most.
As far as 10p coins go, the rarest and most valuable are still on the A to Z collection minted in 2018 and re-released in 2019.
Each letter of the alphabet was represented with an easy-to-guess illustrated design, celebrating best of British themes including James Bond, a postbox and cricket.
There were 220,000 of each of the 26 coins released into circulation in 2018.
Far fewer, 84,000, were minted in 2019 – which makes them all the more valuable.
The coins look exactly the same apart from a 2019 stamp next to the Queen’s head on the newest release.
RARE COINS AND VALUABLE NOTES
There were 63,000 W, Y and Z coins minted, represented the world wide web, a yeoman warder and a zebra crossing respectively.
And there were only 64,000 coins made featuring the R for Robin picture, while 83,000 of the Q for Queue coins were created.
The low mintage figures for the 2019 versions mean that there are fewer out there than even the rarest coin of all, the Kew Gardens 50p.
The collection is highly sought-after by coin hunters, with collectors desperate to get hold of all 26 coins and complete the alphabet.
We’ve rounded up six of the rarest 10p coins and checked how much they’re selling for so you can find out what you might fetch.
Rare and valuable coins – is yours worth a mint?
Some which are Brilliant Uncirculated are in mint condition and often sell for more than their circulated counterparts.
However, it’s worth remembering that a coin is really only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
R for Robin 10p – £27.95
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Down one place to second on the scarcity index in February, the R for Robin coin still sells for more than the other 10p pieces on the market.
R for Robin features a wintery, snowflake background with a robin sitting inside the letter R.
That gives it extra appeal around Christmas time.
We spotted an uncirculated one which sold for a respectable £27.95 after attracting one bid at the end of June.
It doesn’t sound like a huge amount of money, but it is 279 times the coin’s face value.
Still, there are more of these in circulation than Y for Yeoman Warder and Z for Zebra Crossing coins, with 284,000 in total.
Z for Zebra Crossing 10p – £19.99
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Royal Mint released this coin to celebrate James Callaghan’s iconic black and white pedestrian crossing.
They have also become iconic in British culture since featuring on the iconic cover of Beatles album Abbey Road.
On eBay, the highest recent price for a sale of a 2019 Z for Zebra 10p is £19.99, which sold on July 18 this year.
There are 283,000 of these in circulation in total.
Y for Yeoman Warder 10p – £17.50
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This coin features a yeoman warder on the tails side to celebrate the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London who protect the British Crown Jewels.
Although it is third highest on the Change Checker scarcity list, it’s the second most lucrative coin on eBay so far this year.
The highest recent selling price we could find on eBay for a 2019 Y for Yeoman 10p coin was £17.50.
It was sold using eBay’s ‘buy now’ option meaning there wasn’t a bidding process. It was sold 1 June.
There are 283,000 of these coins in circulation in total, like the Z for Zebra 10p coin.
W for World Wide Web 10p – £19.99
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Celebrating Brit Tim Berners-Lee’s invention of the internet, this W for World Wide Web 10p features a cool spiderweb design.
Though it’s not quite clear how the design actually relates to the internet, these coins can fetch up to £19.99.
There have been 283,000 of these coins minted over the past four years.
P for Postbox 10p – £16.99
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This coin celebrates the popular red postboxes you’ll see dotted up and down the country.
On the front of the coin, you’ll see a postbox located on a street with houses and bushes next to the letter P.
220,000 of these coins were minted in 2018, and a further 84,000 were created in 2019.
We saw one sell for £16.99 on eBay.
Q for Queue 10p – £17.50
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They say us Brits love to queue, and this 10p coin plays homage to that.
The design shows ten people queuing in the middle of the letter Q.
When we searched recent eBay listings, one 2019 coin had sold for just over £17.50.
According to Change Checker, the circulating mintage for this coin is 303,000.
What makes a coin more valuable?
Mintage figures affect a coins value. The lower the mintage, the more rare and valuable the coin is.
However, Change Checker looks at how many collectors have acquired the coin, showing how easy it is to find.
Experts also track how many times the design has been requested as a swap during the previous three months, showing them collector demand.
While the index doesn’t necessarily correspond to value, it is an effective indicator.
What do I do if I have a rare coin and how do I find out how much it’s worth?
One in every four old £1 are thought to be fake according to The Royal Mint, meaning there could be a fake in your spare change.
The Royal Mint can’t value the coin but can confirm that it’s genuine. They’ll supply you with a letter to confirm this.
Once you know if it’s real you’ll be able to sell it through a coin dealer, a specialist such as Change Checker, auction or eBay.
You can look at eBay’s recent sold prices to get an indicator of how much your coin usually goes for on the site.
Search the full name of the coin, select the “sold” listing and then toggle the search to “highest value”.
You’ll then have an idea of the amount of money that the coin is being sold for.
We’ve updated our list of the rarest and most valuable 50p pieces in circulation, including Olympics coins worth more than £200.
Keep up to date with all the rare coins and valuable notes news from The Sun.
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