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Scottish Sun
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Rare 50p coin sells for £262 after huge bidding war – exact details to spot
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BRITS should check their homes for a rare 50p coin after one sold at auction for 500 times its value. If you have a stash of loose change lying around, it's worth checking to see if any of these rare coins are lurking in your collection. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 The Blue Peter 50p is one of the most sought after coins from the Olympics Credit: The Britannia Coin Company Fifty pence pieces are often some of the most sought-after coins with collectors. Among them is a 2009 Blue Peter 50p that was minted to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games. Just 19,722 Blue Peter branded coins were issued, making them one of the most rare coins minted to mark the Olympics. As a result, they can fetch hundreds of pounds at auction. One of these coins sold on secondhand platform eBay for £262 last month after a furious bidding war. The starting price was just £5 but six bidders fought it out, with one eventually submitting the winning bid on June 30. Dated 2009, the design was the first of 29 officially licenced London 2012 Olympic coins to be released by The Royal Mint. The coin is the same size and weight as a 50p coin found in your change and measures 8g by 27g in diameter. But as it never entered circulation it has a shiny surface. The coin's design was created by eight-year-old Florence Jackson from Bristol. She entered her high jump themed drawing into the Blue Peter competition and her design was chosen over 17,000 entries. She remains the youngest Brit to have her design used on official UK coins. Meanwhile, regular circulated Olympic coins were issued in 2011. Around 2,224,000 coins to celebrate the athletics heats were issued. Most rare and valuable 50p coins WE reveal the Royal Mint's most rare and valuable 50p coins in circulation. Triathlon 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 a rare find. The highest recent sale we've found on eBay recently was £30 on June 21. Judo 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 just 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 £17.95 on June 21. Wrestling Wrestling was one of the first Olympic sports so it's not surprising that it features on one of the 50p pieces. The 2011 coin was designed by Roderick Enriquez, a graphic designer from Hammersmith, London. We've seen it sell for as much as £15 online so is worth digging around for. In recent months, one was sold on eBay for £11.95 on June 18. Football Of all the coins created to commemorate the 2012 Olympic Games, the 50p Football is among the rarest. It features an explanation of the controversial offside rule on it, with 1,125,000 produced. One sold for £20 on eBay on June 11, although it has been known to go for as much as £75 in the past. Kew Gardens 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 in recent weeks was £142 on June 22 with 23 bids. How to sell a rare coin If you are lucky to find a rare coin among your spare change or have one at home, you can sell it through online marketplaces such as eBay. Simply take pictures of the coin, any certificates of authenticity you have and any packaging. You can also sell coins via auction, through the Royal Mint's Collector's Service. If you choose this option a team of experts will authenticate and value your coin. You will also receive advice on how to sell it. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
Daily Mail
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Rare 2p coin fetches a jaw-dropping £750 at auction: Have you got one in YOUR pocket?
A rare two-pence piece has just sold for £750 at auction today – and Brits have been urged to check their change in case they've got one too. The coin, dated 1985, was found in a piggy bank in the late 1990s, and sold for nearly 40,000 times its face value at auction. Unlike other 2p coins, it's made from cupronickel, a metal alloy normally used for higher-denomination coins such as 10 pence pieces. As a result, it's got a unique silver colour, instead of the usual bronze tint, and will stand out in a handful of change. The coin went the hammer at RWB Auctions in Royal Wootton Bassett earlier this week. Auctioneers estimated it would fetch between £300 and £400 at auction. But the coin more than doubled that, going for a staggering £750. Coin expert and YouTuber Christopher Collects, who works with The Britannia Coin Company, sister firm to RWB Auctions, described how the coin may have come out in silver. He said: 'It's been struck on the wrong metal disk. 'So somehow a cupronickel silvery-looking blank has managed to get into one of the striking machines and has filtered into the machine whilst they were striking two pence coins. 'There's this great big metal bin that's full of all these blanks – because they're not a coin until they've been struck – and they just lift them up and tip them into a hopper. 'It all gets fed into the machine, and so one of these blanks has managed to get stuck in the machinery and has then dislodged while they're striking two pence coins.' He continued: 'They can strike up to 16 coins a second in one of those machines, so you can imagine the sheer volume of coins that they produce when they're minting them for circulation. 'They can't check every single one, so normally they would grab a handful and check them over, and it's obviously not been in the handful of coins that they've pulled out to check.' The coin features a crowned portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by artist Raphael Maklouf which was used on British currency between 1985 and 1997. The reverse features the badge of the Prince of Wales – ostrich plumes within a coronet. Its cupronickel composition has been confirmed using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology, and it's also been authenticated by a third party, the Numismatic Guaranty Company. It's unclear how many cupronickel 2p pieces are in circulation. 'It's anybody's guess,' said Christopher, 'there is no way to track back how many have been made.' The coin expert says there could be one in your pocket right now. He said: 'If you don't look, you definitely won't find, is what I would normally say. 'It does stand out if you've got a handful of two pence coins and you have a silver-looking one rather than a coppery-looking one. 'This one was found in a piggy bank, so there's every chance that there could be more out there, but they're not going to be in huge numbers.' He added: 'This just sort of highlights the kind of treasure that you can find in your change, in your pocket, in your money jars.'
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Rare 2p coin is set to fetch a staggering £400 at auction: Have you got one in YOUR pocket?
A rare two-pence piece is set to fetch up to £400 at auction today – and Brits have been urged to check their change in case they've got one too. The coin, dated 1985, was found in a piggy bank in the late 1990s, and could now sell for up to 20,000 times its face value at auction. Unlike other 2p coins, it's made from cupronickel, a metal alloy normally used for higher-denomination coins like 10 pence pieces. As a result, it's got a unique silver colour, instead of the usual bronze tint, and will stand out in a handful of change. The coin goes under the hammer at RWB Auctions in Royal Wootton Bassett at 11am today. Coin expert and YouTuber Christopher Collects, who works with The Britannia Coin Company, sister firm to RWB Auctions, described how the coin may have come out in silver. He said: 'It's been struck on the wrong metal disk. 'So somehow a cupronickel silvery-looking blank has managed to get into one of the striking machines and has filtered into the machine whilst they were striking two pence coins. 'There's this great big metal bin that's full of all these blanks – because they're not a coin until they've been struck – and they just lift them up and tip them into a hopper. 'It all gets fed into the machine, and so one of these blanks has managed to get stuck in the machinery and has then dislodged while they're striking two pence coins.' He continued: 'They can strike up to 16 coins a second in one of those machines, so you can imagine the sheer volume of coins that they produce when they're minting them for circulation. 'They can't check every single one, so normally they would grab a handful and check them over, and it's obviously not been in the handful of coins that they've pulled out to check.' The coin features a crowned portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by artist Raphael Maklouf which was used on British currency between 1985 and 1997. The reverse features the badge of the Prince of Wales – ostrich plumes within a coronet. Its cupronickel composition has been confirmed using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology, and it's also been authenticated by a third party, the Numismatic Guaranty Company. Auctioneers estimate it will fetch between £300 and £400 at auction. It's unclear how many cupronickel 2p pieces are in circulation. 'It's anybody's guess,' said Christopher, 'there is no way to track back how many have been made.' The coin expert says there could be one in your pocket right now. He said: 'If you don't look, you definitely won't find, is what I would normally say. 'It does stand out if you've got a handful of two pence coins and you have a silver-looking one rather than a coppery-looking one. 'This one was found in a piggy bank, so there's every chance that there could be more out there, but they're not going to be in huge numbers.' He added: 'This just sort of highlights the kind of treasure that you can find in your change, in your pocket, in your money jars.'
