A RARE Army £2 coin has sparked the interest of keen collectors and it’s all because it bears a peculiar error.
And as a result of that error, coin experts are willing to snap it up for as much as £100 – 50 times the coin’s face value.
The rare coin has the inscription “the whole city in dreadful flames” around its rim – but that shouldn’t be there, it’s a message from an entirely different design altogether.
That’s what should be etched into the side of the rare Great Fire of London £2.
Instead, this coin, which is a First World War £2 should say: “for king and country”.
Both of the coin designs were minted in the same year, so something has gone wrong in the minting process and the two have been muddled up.
Initially the rare find was shared on Facebook by an avid collector looking to see if he’d stumbled across anything of interest.
But the experts at Coin Hunter were quick to brand the piece likely a genuine that would have hailed from the Royal Mint.
It’s still in a very good condition so it could have come from a Brilliant Uncirculated pack.
In that batch only 50,047 were minted.
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But it just as well could have come from the 9,550,000 that are in circulation right now.
That means another just like it could be lurking in your change.
We don’t know for sure yet exactly which the coin will have come from, but we will update this story once we know more.
The Royal Mint manufactures between three million and four million coins a day, so often things will go wrong – and there’s a great possibility that your change you be worth its own pretty penny.
Could one pop up in your change?
Error coins are still legal tender, so while they may look a little odd there’s still a high chance they could turn up in your change.
So long as they’re not too misshapen they might make their way through tills or hands, parking machines or vending kiosks and slip by unnoticed.
Keep an eye out though, and you could be quids-in.
They’re not as likely to show up in your change as other rare commemorative designs, but that can spur collectors to bid more money, as they’re harder to come by.
But experts also warn that a number of fake coins often end up in circulation, so you have to be careful when you’re bidding online.
Colin Bellamy, an rare change expert from Coin Hunter told The Sun: “It could be possible to find this coin in your change, as the one pictured was.”
The change hunting site has put out a call for any budding collectors to check their pockets and down the backs of their sofas to see if they have a copy of their own.
If the error is part of a BU pack as speculated then you’ll be able to spot the fault through the packaging – and the experts may be able to take it off your hands for a hefty price.
Colin said: “Check your change for this error £2 coin – Coin Hunter will buy the first one offered for 50 times its face value – £100.”
Are other coins in my change worth a mint?
There’s plenty of other coins to keep an eye out for in your change.
The rare Kew Garden’s 50p tops the chart on Change Checker’s scarcity index and can often sell for over £500.
Then there’s and all other sorts of designs from dinosaurs, to Beatrix Potter characters, Olympic athletes, and more – and they always sell well above face value.
But change experts like Coin Hunter or Change Checker will help you verify if your rare finds are real, and they can help place a value on coins you have.
You can scroll through other eBay listings to get a general idea of how much collectors are willing to pay too.
And usually you can determine if something is the real deal by the number of bidders who were willing to stake their claim on it.
But that being said, a coin is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it – so there’s a chance it won’t sell for anything at all as well.
And a bidder can always pull out – which means it won’t have sold for the price it says it has.
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