Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Neil Shaw

Rare 2p coin sells for £485

A rare 'silver' two pence coin struck in error by the Royal Mint has sold for £485 - 24,250 times its face value.

The seller, from Granton, Edinburgh, posted the silver-coloured coin on online marketplace Gumtree with the lofty asking price.

It was sold this morning (January 3) to a coin collector in Fife.

The coin was minted in error in 2015 after being accidentally struck onto the nickel-plated steel base of a 10p instead of the copper-plated steel used for 2p coins.

Such mistakes at The Royal Mint - which can manufacture up to four million pennies a day - result in 'error coins' known as 'mules'.

These mules are extremely rare, as most are spotted by the Royal Mint's strict quality controls and never released into general circulation.

That makes them valuable to collectors who are willing to pay way above the coin's face value to add them to their collections.

The seller said he bought the coin from a friend in Thames Ditton, Surrey in 2018.

A similar coin which was placed for sale on eBay (eBay)

Posting next to a picture of the curious coin, listed as ‘Silver 2 pence coin minted in error’, he states: “Extremely rare coin which I bought three years ago.

“The price is set and will not become an auction as it’s being sold through necessity.”

A similar coin sold for £1,350 at auction back in 2016, nearly 70,000 times more than the actual value of the coin.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.