A RARE Kew Gardens 50p has sold for £155 on eBay after a bidding war broke out and rocketed the asking price.
The 50p features an image of the famous London landmark of the same name, and it’s one of the most sought after in the coin collecting circuit.
2
2
The coin sold on December 1 after 25 bids were placed.
We know eager coin hunters were keen to get their hands on it, as it only took seven days to push up the price from £21 where it started at the online auction.
The Kew Gardens 50p is one of the rarest to collect as only 210,000 were minted.
As it’s so rare, copies will often sell for hundreds so the steep sale of this coin comes as no surprise.
The seller knew they were onto a winner when they posted the listing too, as they described the coin as “a prize item for any collector.”
The coin holds the top spot on Change Checker’s, latest scarcity index and it’s also one of the top ten rarest in circulation according to the Royal Mint.
While it’s 310 times more than face value, £155 isn’t the highest we’ve seen this coin go for though.
A recent copy sold for £165 on eBay, while another sold for £250 last month.
One sold for exactly £370 at the beginning of November, and another went for £281 back in October too.
How to spot one in your own change
If you spot the Kew Gardens 50p in your own change you could find yourself quids-in.
It’s a commemorative style coin, but it’s not the only one out there, so even if this one doesn’t happen to fall into your wallet, there’s a chance to cash-in on other styles.
They’ll often sell for hundreds of pounds too.
Look for a unique design on the coin that’s different to the mass of common 50ps.
There is a whole collection of rare Olympic 50p coins for example that we’ve found sell over face value on eBay.
Plus rare error coins can fetch a pretty penny for their faults as well – they may be faulty, but they can be sold on for a lot.
You should always be cautious of fakes though as they’ll often show up online.
A good way to tell if something is the real deal is to see how many people have been willing to bid for it.
In the case of most recent listing, 13 bidders battled it out, so it’s clear to see the coin was something to be fought over.
But keep in mind that an eBay buyer could pull out, which means the coin won’t have sold for the price it appears to have.
If you want a better idea of the coins value, use experts like Coin Hunter to check over your change and see how much it could be worth.
You could also get your change verified by The Royal Mint – this might help you hike the resell price too.
Rare coins and valuable notes – is yours worth a mint?
Royal Mint reveals new Winnie the Pooh and friends 50p coin
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun Money team?
