RARE coins are often worth much more than their face value and you could be sitting on a small fortune.
The Royal Mint, the official maker of British coins, often puts limited edition coins into circulation.
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And because there’s only a limited number on the market, they can be worth a fair amount.
Some 50p pieces have sold for almost £900 – a whopping 1,800 times their face value.
Bear in mind this is one of the highest amounts this coin has sold for though and there a number of factors that can influence this.
The design of the coin, its condition and whether or not the coin is in circulation also affects how much it could be worth.
You can easily figure out how rare a coin is, by checking its mintage figures.
This relates to how many were produced by The Royal Mint.
If a coin has a low mintage, it means there’s less in circulation and is therefore rarer.
Either way, you’ll want to keep an eye out for some in particular which can sell for big sums.
Triathlon – worth £11
- Mintage: 1,163,500
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Minted in 2011, the Triathlon 50p depicts the same sport which featured in the 2012 Olympics.
There are more than 1,160,000 of the coins in circulation.
With over 200million 50ps circulating in the UK, that makes this coin quite the rare find.
The highest recent sale we’ve found on eBay for one is £30 in the past.
But the highest price we could find it recent weeks was £11.15 on October 27.
Judo – worth up to £12
- Mintage: 1,161,500
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Judo is a popular sport that involves grappling with your opponent.
But despite the design, it’s not so easy to get a hold of this coin, of which there are 1,161,500 in circulation.
The piece was designed by David Cornell after he won a national competition.
It was minted in 2011 and the highest bid we’ve seen on eBay was for £11.99 on October 26.
Wrestling – worth £12
- Mintage: 1,129,500
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Wrestling was one of the first Olympic sports so it is apt it features on one of the 50p pieces.
The 2011 coin was designed by Roderick Enriquez, a graphic designer from Hammersmith.
We’ve seen it sell for as much as £15 online so is worth digging around for.
In recent weeks, one sold on eBay with 11 bids for £11.74.
Football – worth up to £19
- Mintage: 1,125,500
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Of all the coins created to commemorate the 2012 Olympics Games, the 50p Football is among the rarest.
It features an explanation of the offside rule on it, with 1,125,000 produced.
One sold for £19.40 on eBay on May 1 this year, although it has been known to go for as much as £75 in the past.
Kew Gardens – worth up to £895
- Mintage: 210,000
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The Kew Gardens 50p is the rarest of all the 50p pieces, with only 210,000 in circulation.
They have been known to sell for as much as £895 on eBay before.
The design was created by Christopher Le Brun RA and features the famous Chinese Pagoda with a leafy chamber that twists around the tower.
The coin often sparks the interest of new coin collectors due to its rarity.
The highest sale we found from recent weeks was £160 on October 27 with one bid.
How much are other 50p coins worth?
Many coins can be worth much more when sold on eBay as part of a collection.
Although sometimes you’ll get better individual prices if another enthusiast needs your coin to complete their collection.
The rare Blue Peter Olympic 50p has been flogged on eBay for £205 in the past.
The coin shows an athlete doing the high jump and was drawn by nine-year-old Florence Jackson after winning a competition on the kid’s TV show.
Plus, one seller managed to pocket a whopping £63,000 flogging his Battle of Hasting’s 50p too.
So-called error coins tend to be worth a lot too, because there’s rarely more than a few thousand of them in circulation.
One 50p that was mistakenly struck twice sold for as much as £510 on eBay because it was rare.
It’s not only 50ps either – a rare error 10p coin sold for over 1,000 times more than its face value on eBay too in the past.
Newer versions could be worth a mint too
You might think that old coins go for the most – but new ones can go for some big sums too.
In 2019, the Royal Mint re-released sets of five of the rarest and most popular 50ps to celebrate half a decade of the coin.
The new coins are made with old designs including Kew Gardens, Girl Guides and Scouts, but are stamped with the 2019 date which could make them super valuable among collectors.
The £90 collectors’ proof sets sold out in February 2019, but you can still get uncirculated sets for £45 directly from the Royal Mint.
This year has seen an influx of special edition Harry Potter coins, as well as those with the heads of former monarchs on them too.
Meanwhile, the first commemorative £2 coins featuring King Charles III were released earlier this year.
How do I find out what my coin is worth?
If you’re lucky enough to pick up a rare coin in your spare change, it could go for hundreds of pounds depending on how rare it is.
You should check how much the coin is selling for on eBay.
Search the full name of the coin, select the “sold” listing and then toggle the search to “highest value”.
It will give you an idea of the amount of money that the coin is going for.
But remember, a buyer could always pull out so the coin may not have gone for the price it says it has.
And watch out for fakes too.
You can also use an online tool that gives you an estimate of how much it could be worth on eBay, as well as any other rare coins you have.
Coin Hunter gives you an estimated valuation of your coin based on the average of the most recent sales, as well as a range of how much you can expect it to fetch.
Plus Change Checker’s Scarcity Index will give you a good idea of how rare a coin is.
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