Rare Falkland Islands 50p coins featuring penguins sell for up to £114 – do you have one in your spare change?
A RARE 50p coin from the Falkland Islands has sold for almost £114 online, thanks to a subtle blunder.
The silver coin was minted as part of a set of four penguin-themed 50ps designed to celebrate the wildlife on the British isles back in 2017.
But one of them featured a variety of penguin that was actually native to an island 4,000km away, making them more valuable to a collector.
One of the error coins reports - a cool £100.95 profit on the original £13 price tag.
Another of the error coins sold for £86, which may prove to be a more realistic price, after it received 23 bids.
Others have been listed for around £30 but of course the coins are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.
How much are the Falkland Island 50p coins worth
THE commemorative coins can fetch a cool profit on eBay. Here's how much each of the 2017 coins are selling for online:
- Northern Rockhopper penguin - up to £114
- Southern Rockhopper penguin -
- Gentoo penguin -
- Magellanic penguin -
- King penguin -
The coins were part of a set that featured a King, Gentoo, Magellanic and Rockhopper penguins.
But a fault in the design on the Rockhopper coins meant that a limited number were actually minted with the wrong bird on them.
There are two types of Rockhopper penguin - the southern Rockhopper commonly found on the Falkland Islands and the northern Rockhopper, which is found on the volcanic island of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Somehow, an image of the northern Rockhoppers ended up on the tales side of the coin, with 3,200 of them being made before the mistake was spotted.
To put it into perspective, the Kew Gardens 50p coins is considered to be the rarest coin in the UK and 210,000 of them were released into circulation.
A corrected version of the coin was later released featuring the southern Rockhopper in the same position.
Is your small change worth a fortune?
IF you think that you might have a rare coin then you might be able to make a real mint.
The most valuable coins are usually those with a low mintage or an error.
These are often deemed the most valuable by collectors.
You should check how much the coin is selling for on eBay.
Search the full name of the coin, select the "sold" listing and then toggle the search to "highest value".
It will give you an idea of the amount of money that the coin is going for.
You can either choose to sell the coin on eBay or through a specialist like ChangeChecker.org.
If you choose the auction website then remember to set a minimum price that is higher or at the very least equal to the face value of the coin.
Even if your coin “sells” on eBay for a high price there’s no guarantee that the buyer will cough up.
It its terms and conditions, the auction website states that bidders enter a “legally binding contract to purchase an item”, but there’s no way to enforce this rule in reality.
The most eBay can do is add a note to their account for the unpaid item or remove their ability to bid and buy.
You can spot the difference by looking out for the length of the features on the the bird's crest - northern Rockhoppers have longer feathers than the ones that are native to the Falkland Islands.
But it's important to note that these coins were purely commemorative and made by a private seller called Pobjoy Mint, not the Royal Mint.
They can't be used in shops in the Falkland Islands or in the UK so the chances of one turning up in your change is slim.
If you do find one and are looking to sell it, you should get it verified by the manufacturers first.
You can either get it valued by a dealer or check how much they're selling for on eBay by searching through the sold listings.
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