A 50p coin featuring a manufacturing mistake has sold for £510 on eBay.
The error piece has been "double struck", which means a design has been pressed on twice - as Mirror Online reports.
Although the coin looks unusual, the blunder makes it incredibly valuable to collectors.
READ MORE: Royal Mint unveils new 50p, £2 and £5 coins for 2022
In the item description on eBay, the seller said: “Double struck coins can be either on-centre or off-centre.
“The reasons for multiple strikes are as varied as the number of strikes that can occur.
“Ejection failures which prevent a planchet to correctly discharge from the striking chamber are numerous.”
A photo shows the standard image of Britannia in the centre of the coin, but you can see the top of the design has been pressed again - as the head of Britannia is also visible in the bottom left corner.
You can also make out the “E” and “W” from the word “NEW” and the letter “P” from the word “PENCE” in the second strike.
The coin attracted 19 bids and sold for £510 after a seven-day auction.
You can see the eBay listing here.
Error coins are particularly valuable to collectors as they could be one of a kind, or one of only a handful.
Sometimes it isn’t clear how many times an error has occurred, but there have been reports of several “double struck” error coins recently.
However, collectors are warned to do their research first before buying any coins, as there are many fakes floating around.
Change experts such as Coin Hunter can help work out if a piece is real - and you can also ask the Royal Mint to verify coins.
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