Rare Kew Gardens 50p sells for £160 on eBay – is one in your pocket?
ANOTHER rare 50p coin was sold for hundreds of times its face value – could you be in possession of one?
One lucky seller cashed in a cool £160 for their limited edition 50p piece on eBay yesterday.
Though they’re the same size and shape as any other 50p piece, Kew Gardens coins minted in 2009 are worth a small fortune because they’re so rare.
According to Change Checker’s scarcity index, they’re among rarest on the market.
Depicting a Chinese pagoda from the centre of the famous gardens, only 210,000 of the 50p coins were ever made.
Lancashire seller Alex set the starting price at 99p last Thursday, with a heated bidding war finally ending on a £160 just after midday yesterday.
Twenty-five bids were made during the week-long auction.
By Saturday morning, the price was already at £50 – and on Monday it passed £100.
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The winning £160 bid was made just three minutes before the end of the auction.
Alex’s description of the coin read: “In nice condition, see photos. Genuine coin.”
According to the Royal Mint, there are up to 1billion 50p coins in circulation – so just one in every 4,750 is a Kew Gardens 50p piece from 2009.
Last week a Kew Gardens 50p sold for £250, while we’ve also seen sales worth £190 and a stellar £177.
How to spot one and make a mint
It’s always worthing having a rifle through your own change to spot any unique designs – if you find one you could make a lot of money from it on eBay.
The Kew Gardens 50p, like other commemorative style coins, will usually sell for hundreds of pounds, so you could definitely make a mint.
Even the odd minting error raises interest too.
They’ll all 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 can often show up online with few differences.
And check your change with experts like Coin Hunter or The Royal Mint if you want to know if your money is worth what others are saying it could be.
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