People are being urged to check their wallets to see whether they have a rare 50p coin that could be worth over 400 times its face value. The Daily Star reports that a Kew Gardens genuine 2009 circulated coin has just sold on eBay for £211 - and there are more of these coins in circulation.
The coin was put up for sale by its owner and it racked up a total of 21 bids from five separate coin collectors eager to get their hands on it. The starting price began at £100 on March 16 before shooting to over £200 on Wednesday. Finally, the bidding ended at 8.47am today (Thursday March 23) after it reached £211.
In the product description, the seller wrote: "Kew Gardens 50p genuine 2009 circulated coin. This is a very lightly circulated example of the scarce Kew Gardens coin EF+ in my opinion. But please see photos for your own assessment."
On top of the £211 sale, the buyer must pay £2.05 postage fee for standard delivery. The Royal Mint claims the Kew Gardens 50p is one of the most sought-after coins in circulation.
It was designed to mark the 250th anniversary of the iconic London landmark back in 2009 but only 210,000 coins were minted, which is why it is so rare among collectors in the UK.
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Created by Christopher Le Brun RA, it features the famous Chinese Pagoda from the gardens being intertwined by a leafy climber. Previously, a similar coin attracted over 32 bids as it sold for £165, more than 330 times its face value.
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