Rare Kew Gardens 50p sells for £156 on eBay – do you have one in your change?

A RARE 50p coin has sold on eBay for just under £156, which makes it worth almost 312 times more than its face value after the sale.

Amongst your regular change it might not stand out, but coin collectors can spot that this 50p’s unique design means its one of the highest in demand – and they’d too be willing to pay a hefty price for a copy.

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Often they’ll bid hundreds of pounds and it’s because it’s one of the most sought after according to both experts, The Royal Mint, and Change Checker.

The coin goes by the name “Kew Gardens 50p” from those in the collecting circuit.

On the reverse side it features an image of the Chinese pagoda that stands at the heart of the London attraction the coin is named after.

When the 50 pence piece was released in 2009, only 210,000 were minted – a fraction compared to more common 50ps.

Because of that factor, a bidding war broke out over the four days the listing for this copy was live, and as many as 14 offers were placed in that time.

Eventually it sold for exactly £155.75, which was quite the leap from £30 where it started at the first bid.

It’s not the most we’ve seen a coin similar to this go for though – another went for as much as £190 last month, for example.

Plus it’s not the only style coin that will rake in a fairly large sum of money on the online auction site.

Over the Christmas period we saw other commemorative style coins like festive designs or specifically “The Snowman” motifs sell for hundreds of pounds.

There’s also a range of 2012 Olympics coins that each depict various sporting events from the world-renowned games, and they’ll often sell above face value too.

Do you have one in your change?

If you find a rare coin in your own change you could make a lot of money from it on eBay.

It’s always worthing having a rifle through to spot any unique designs or even the odd minting error or two that could also raise interest.

Any of these examples will usually be produced in low numbers so demand from collectors is high.

But a good way to check if you’re in the money is by taking a look at other listings on the site.

You can check if something’s the real deal by looking at how many people have been willing to bid for it in the past – and how much they’ve driven the price up by too.

Always be cautious of fakes though, as they’ll often show up online.

Experts like Coin Hunter or The Royal Mint will check if your change is legitimate and worth what others are saying too.

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.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk