Rare £1 error coin sells for £156 on eBay – check your change to see if you could be quids-in too

A RARE £1 error coin has sold on eBay for over £150, because it’s missing one crucial element.

The rare coin sold for £156.02 on October 21, which is a considerable amount more than its actual denomination and face value – and it’s all due to a lack of silver in the middle of the design.

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This happened in the minting process of the coin, and actually makes it resemble more the old style pound coins that stopped being legal tender back in 2018.

The minting fault means the coin is missing the silver nickel plated alloy middle that’s seen on all the modern British pound coins we use everyday.

The coins, introduced into circulation in 2017, are designed to be bimetallic, but the error version is gold all over instead.

That unique flaw has only made bidders more keen to get their hands on it though, and as a consequence 23 offers were placed on the listing while seven bidders battled it out.

The starting price was actually cheaper than the coin is worth at face value anyway, as 10 days of auction began at only 99p.

This quickly shot up by just over 156 times though, making it obvious collectors were eager to cash-in.

But it’s not the highest we’ve seen a coin like this go for, as only last month a similar coin sold for £205 while another with the same fault sold for a close £206 price tag just weeks ago.

The Royal Mint manufactures between three million and four million coins a day, so it can be common for things to go wrong.

It’s unsurprising then, that a whole number of mistakes can make their way onto the finished product.

But these mistakes are rare and make the coins more desirable at the same time, especially as they’re produced in low numbers.

In April a rare £1 sold for £155 because it had upside down writing on its side.

Plus in February last year, another mis-struck £1 coin was sold for £112 as it had an error that left the silver-coloured inner part of the pound looking like a fried egg.

I’ve got a quirky looking coin in my change, could I be quids-in?

Error coins are still legal tender – so long as the original coin is still in circulation too.

That means you could easily come across one in your change too.

Sellers can often make big money exchanging rare error coins on sites like eBay.

You can get imperfect coins verified by the Royal Mint, which could help you place a value on yours if you come to sell.

It will also let you know if your change is legitimate or not as unfortunately there are many fake coins in circulation.

Online tools from change experts like Coin Hunter are helpful to see how much it could be worth too.

Plus, the number of bids on the listing can help you establish that the coin is the real deal as well.

But remember that if you’re selling on eBay, you need to keep in mind that a buyer could pull out as well which means it won’t have sold for the price that it says it has.

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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk