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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Matthew Dresch

How to check if the 50p coin in your pocket is actually worth hundreds of pounds

The 50p coin in your pocket may be worth far more than you think - as particular designs are fetching hundreds of pounds online.

Collectors are willing to pay high prices for certain variants, with the Kew Gardens 50p being the most desirable.

Changechecker.org lists the design as the rarest 50p made by the Royal Mint, followed by the 2012 Olympics football coin.

The Royal Mint’s director of currency Andrew Mills previously said the 50p is widely considered to be the most collectible coin.

He added that coin collecting in the UK remains 'as popular as ever'.

The Kew Gardens 50p, described as the 'holy grail of change collecting', reportedly sold for £311 on eBay, while a Olympic swimming coin - which was made accidentally - went for £590.

The valuable coin was redesigned by the Royal Mint because the swimmer was not visible in the water, however a small number of defective coins entered circulation, The Sun reports.

The Kew Gardens coin was made in 2009 to mark 250 years since the attraction opened, with only 210,000 50ps produced with the design, according to changechecker.org.

The latest figures for the rarest 50ps have been released after gold commemorative Brexit coins sold out.

The 2012 Olympic special edition coins yield high prices (PA)
The 100th anniversary Scouts 50p is also a favourite among collectors (PA)

The 50p coins, which were produced in a limited edition of 1,500 and priced at £945, sold out within hours of going online in January.

Demand was so high, the Mint introduced a queueing system to even get on its website.

A limited-edition two-coin set - with a historic 1973 50p marking the UK's accession into the European Economic Community and a new 2020 50p marking the withdrawal from the European Union - has also sold out.

The Girl Guides 50p is another sought after coin (PA)
50ps are apparently the most collectible coins (PA)

Priced at £30, 5,000 sets were produced.

It also limited purchases of silver versions of the coin, priced at £60, to three per household.

Around three million Brexit 50p coins were entering banks, post offices and shops in January, with another seven million of the coins due later this year.

The coins are dated January 31 - and Chancellor Sajid Javid said they mark the beginning of a "new chapter".

Javid originally ordered production of the celebratory coins in advance of the previous departure date of October 31.

It's the fourth time the Mint has produced a commemorative coin to mark the UK's relationship with the European Union.

The first was made when the UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973, a second for the single market in 1992 and a third marked the UK's 25th anniversary of joining the EU in 1998.

As part of the launch of the 50p Brexit coin, the Royal Mint Experience in South Wales opened its doors for 24 hours to let people strike their own commemorative Brexit coins.

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