A RARE Blue Peter coin has sold for hundreds of pounds more than its face value at an eBay auction – is there one in your spare change?
The nostalgic rare coin sold on 28 June 2022 for £253 after 35 bids.
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The Blue Peter 50p was designed by fan, Florence Jackson, after she won a competition that saw more than 17,000 entries on the kids TV show.
The rare coin features a picture to show an athlete in the Olympics, as drawn and depicted by the young viewer back in 2009.
It’s a much-wanted piece for most collectors because it nods to an important children’s television classic.
It also has personal value for many, too.
The coin will often sell for over £200 if it’s noticed by the right bidder.
For example, this Blue Peter coin sold for £257 last December and this month, one sold for £250.
The coin made then nine-year-old Jackson the youngest person to ever design a UK coin.
But the design is rare, so it doesn’t crop up often.
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That’s particularly the case for this one, which has managed to stay neatly sealed in its original packaging too.
Around 2.2million of the Blue Peter 50p coins were minted in 2011 and released into circulation.
But an earlier version of the coin was minted in 2009 and is much more valuable.
Just 20,000 of this version of the coin exist – and this coin purports to be one of them.
How can I find a rare coin?
Keeping an eye out for valuable coins in your spare change is the best way of finding one without paying more than face value.
But coin collectors often scour eBay for rare 50ps and more.
Taking a look at other coins on eBay can give you a better idea of what they should look like and how much they should cost.
You can learn more about them by reading about other coins which were sold earlier on.
But you’ll want to make sure they have a decent number of bids – if not, there’s a chance it might be a scam or the sale may not have completed.
It also makes a difference if you can see packaging on the product, which means it’s more likely to be in mint condition.
The rare Kew Gardens 50p always does well, and it has been a popular collectors item ever since its launch in 2009 too, to celebrate 250 years since the London attraction it’s named after was opened.
The Blue Peter coin is no different, and the 2009 date marked on the coin will often be what buyers look for when they’re on the hunt for the latest addition to their collection.
To help you wade through the waters though, online tools from change experts like Coin Hunter are helpful to see how much it could be worth as well.
You can also check The Royal Mint, which has its own account of the rarest coins in circulation.
But remember that on eBay a buyer could pull out, which means the coin won’t have sold for the price it appears to have.
Always keep your cash safe and make sure a deal is trustworthy before you go through with it – there are plenty of fraudsters online who use eBay to scam customers, so keep an eye out.
