Rare EU 50p coin sells for £70 on eBay – do you have one in your spare change?

A RARE 50p coin has sold for £70 on eBay because it sports a unique design.

As the 50p has no ordinary reverse, it means it’s sold for 140 times more than its face value.

2

2

It’s a commemorative coin, celebrating the UK’s presidency of the European Council of Ministers, and the completion of the Single Market.

With dual dates, 1992 – 1993, printed at the top it’s commonly known as the UK EC Presidency 50p.

Only 109,000 of the coins were minted so the design is very rare.

In fact, that’s only half the number coins minted with the ever popular Kew Gardens 50p coin which tops Change Checker’s scarcity index.

The seller even advertises this in their listing as they said: “It’s significantly rarer than the Kew Gardens 50p, with a mintage of 210,000.

“This is a highly desirable coin.”

But the coin experts point out that the UK EC Presidency coin is no longer in circulation, in contrast to the modern Kew Gardens style.

That’s because it’s a coin from before 1997 when the shape of 50ps was slighlty modernised – making new coins we pass through hands today smaller and thinner.

That means if you do come across one of these rare copies, you might struggle to use it in a vending machine or when you’re stuck at the parking meter.

But, you could have more luck listing it on eBay, just like this seller did, and be quids-in if enough people bid on it.

As many as 18 bids were placed on this one before the final sale was called on January 9, so we know that collectors were keen.

It had only been live a week, but the price had managed to rocket in that time.

Do you have one in your spare change?

The seller of this particular coin said they’d had the copy lying around for almost 30 years, so it’s worth having a sort through your own change to see if any rarities can be spotted.

If you find one you could make a lot of money from it on eBay.

Don’t disregard coins with errors either, as they will usually interest keen collectors too.

Just like the rare designs, they’ll usually be produced in low numbers so demand from collectors is high.

If you look at other listings on eBay you’ll be able to determine how much your own change could go for.

But you should also always keep in mind that on eBay a buyer could pull out, which means the coin won’t have sold for the price it says it has.

Be cautious of fakes too, as they’ll often show up online.

You can check your change with experts like Coin Hunter or The Royal Mint if you want to know if your change is worth what others are saying.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk