CHANGE in your pocket could be worth hundreds of pounds and you might not even realise it.
Peak the interest of the right buyer, and a coin collector could pay almost 40 times the face value of something like a rare £2 coin.
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There are 55 different £2 coin designs currently in circulation and they can can fetch as much as £80 if they’re in the right condition and maybe feature a twist on the original design.
ChangeChecker’s scarcity index ranks them all to determine which is the rarest – and which ones to look out for.
The latest update came in February this year.
Each coin will get a number between one and 100 to indicate how hard it is to find, as well as how in demand it is are.
The higher the number, the rarer the coin – which also means the more likely you’ll be quids-in too.
But in general, what you need to know is that the lower the mintage the rarer the coin, and the rarer the coin the more valuable it is.
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That means not many have been produced, which is more appealing to collectors as they’re harder to get a hold of and they’ll pay more for a copy of their own.
That said, ChangeChecker’s scarcity index also takes into account two other key pieces of information.
This includes how many of each coin are listed as “collected” by members of the site, which indicates the relative ease of finding a particular coin.
The experts also looked at the number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous three months, showing the current level of collector demand.
Here’s which coins came up trumps and how much circulated versions – the ones cropping up in your change – have recently sold for on eBay.
1. 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland – £65
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The 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 coin tops ChangeChecker’s scarcity index list.
One has recently sold on eBay for as much as £65.
There are just 485,500 of these in circulation.
You can check which version of the coin you have by looking at the flag in the circle – it will either depict the English, Northern Irish, Scottish, or Welsh flag.
2. 2002 Commonwealth Games Scotland – £40
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The 2002 Scottish Commonwealth Games coin comes in second place on the scarcity index.
The coin has slightly reduced in value but one still recently sold for £40 on eBay.
There are 771,750 of these in circulation.
3. Olympic handover – £60
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Now making it into the top five is the Olympic Handover coin.
This £2 details Beijing in 2008 handing over the Olympics to London for 2012, and shows the Olympic flag and two hands shaking.
One sold for £60 this month.
There are 918,000 of these in circulation.
4. 2002 Commonwealth Games Wales – £80
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The Commonwealth Games coin for Wales has been bumped out of the top three and it’s in fourth place instead on the list.
But that’s no matter, as a circulated version recently sold for a whopping £80 on eBay.
There are 588,500 of these in circulation.
5. 2002 Commonwealth Games England – £37
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The Commonwealth Games coin for England is lowest of all four in the collection on the scarcity index currently.
One still sold on eBay for an impressive £37 making it almost 20 times its face value.
There are just 650,500 of these in circulation.
6. Olympic centenary – £21
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Carrying on the sporting theme, the Olympic centenary £2 marked 100 years of the modern games in 2008, and there are 910,000 in circulation.
One version sold on eBay for exactly £21.17 which is around 10 times its face value.
7. King James Bible – £49
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Next on the list is a coin showing the King James Bible.
One, complete in all its original packaging, sold for £48.85, but you might be able to fetch up to similar for a circulated version.
According to Change Checker, there are 975,000 in circulation.
8. 2015 First World War (navy) – £14
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Launched in 2015 as part of a set of £2 coins that mark the centenary of WWI, 100 of these two pounds were given to HMS Belfast.
Coin hunters flocked to the ship to track them down.
We found a eBay listing where it sold for £14.25.
9. Great Fire of London – £9
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The Great Fire is one of the most well-known disasters to hit London, when an accidental spark from a baker’s oven led to the destruction of a third of the city.
The £2 coin depicting the iconic moment in history was released in 2016 to mark the 350th Anniversary.
The reverse depicts the city of London burning in flames from a distance and was designed by Aaron West.
Despite its dramatic story, one version sold for only £9 on eBay recently.
10. London Underground Roundel – £27
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There are more than 1.5 million of these London Underground themed coins in circulation.
One showing the famous roundel of the capital’s transport system sold for £27 back in January after 13 bids were placed.
It’s a little lower down the scarcity index currently, but it’s still popular with collectors.
11. Mary Rose – £26
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A circulated £2 showing the famous Mary Rose ship sold on eBay for £27.02
There are just over one million in circulation.
12. Magna Carta – £23
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The Magna Carta £2 sold recently for over £20 on eBayThe Magna Carta coin celebrates the 800th Anniversary of the Signing of Magna Carta.
The £2 sold for £22.99 back in February on eBay.
It has been in circulation since 2015, and there are currently 1,495,000 of them in people’s purses, banks and tills across the country.
It is not just £2 coins which could net you a windfall; rare £1 coins also sell for more than their face value, as do 10p coins.
You could also check your wallet for any loose change – here are the six of the rarest and most valuable coins.
And an ultra-rare silver 2p error coin was found by a collector in Kent, and it could be worth a whopping £1,350.
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