Five rarest coins including £1 error coin worth up to £3,000 – do you have one?
THE small change in your pocket could be worth thousands of pounds if it turns out you've got a coin sought after by collectors.
Certain designs are more valuable than others, while ones minted with a mistake on them could be worth even more.
In general, the rarer the coin the more money it is likely to make you when you come to sell it. However, that's not always the case.
Here, we take you through the rarest 2p, 10p, 50p, £1 and £2 coins in circulation and tell you how much they could be worth.
More importantly, we explain how to spot a valuable coin in your change and how to sell it safely.
Rarest £1 coin worth up to £3,000
There used to be a range of sought after designs on the reverse of the old round £1 coins but these were replaces by the two-tone coins in 2017.
All of these coins feature the same design so the rarest £1s are more likely to be error coins.
These are coins that have been minted with a mistake on them, making them rarer and sometimes more valuable.
Perhaps one of the rarest faulty £1 coins is one that features two mintage dates on it.
These rare £1 coins have the latest design (from March 28, 2017) and are printed with the year 2016 printed on the face.
But if you look carefully - you'll probably need a magnifying glass - 2017 is printed in micro-lettering on the reverse side.
A veteran coin expert has labelled the rare find as one which could fetch up to a cool £3,000 - but only if it's verified by the Royal Mint.
Rarest 2p coin worth up to £1,250
In 2018, the Treasury slapped down proposals by the Bank of England to scrap copper 1ps and 2ps.
While it means the copper coins are here to stay at least for now, they've never been minted with collectable designs.
This means that the rarest versions are usually error coins.
One of the rarest error 2p coins in circulation is a 1983 New Pence and it could be worth over £1,000.
The secret lies in the date. All 2p coins minted between February 1971 and 1982 should say 'new pence' on the front, while those released after this date say 'two pence'.
But in 1983, a glitch meant a batch of 2p coins were printed with the old wording - new pence - on them, rather than two pence, making them valuable to collectors.
Coin Hunter reckons a circulated version is worth more - between £1,000 and £1,250 in fact.
50p coin worth up to £230
The Kew Gardens 50p coin dated 2009 is still the rarest in circulation, according to the Royal Mint.
Only 210,000 of them were ever released into circulation making them pretty hard to come by.
In comparison, the second rarest 50p coins are the 2018 Peter Rabbit and Flopsy Bunny designs and 1.4million of each them were put into circulation.
There were 6.7million of the Battle of Hastings coins, while the most abundant 50p coin if the 1997 Britannia design of which more than 456million went into circulation.
The Kew Gardens coin has topped ChangeChecker's scarcity index for the past few years, as it's still a huge hit among collectors.
The coin features one of the garden buildings at the UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Chinese Pagoda built in 1761.
Recently, we spotted one that sold for £230 on eBay.
However, your 50p could be considered even rarer or more valuable if it is an error coin, such as the rare Olympic swimming version that was minted by mistake.
These are usually worth around £1,000 although we've seen one go for over £10,000 before.
Rarest £2 coin worth up to £85
Last year, the Royal Mint announced it won't be striking any more £2 for circulation for the next 10 years.
In fact, the last one was minted in 2016 meaning you could be sitting on a small fortune if you have one at home.
The rarest £2 coin currently in circulation is the 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland design, according Change Checker.
To celebrate the UK hosting the sporting event, the Royal Mint released designs to represent each of the devolved nations.
Scotland's version is the second rarest, followed by England and then Wales.
Only 485,000 of the NI design were entered into circulation, meaning they account for around one in 2,199 £2 coins, according to Coin Hunter.
We've seen them sell for around £85 on eBay although Coin Hunter's eBay valuation tool reckons they typically sell for around £32.
Rarest 10p coin worth up to £13
The rarest 10p coins are the World Wide Web and the Yeoman Warder design, according to Change Checker's latest scarcity index.
They were both minted as part of a set of 26 different designs on the theme of the A-Z of Britain - the first ever commemorative 10p coins.
In 2018, 220,000 of each letter were entered into circulation but in 2019, the Royal Mint released more, although how many varied by design, making some rarer than others.
For the majority of the designs, the Mint released 84,000 of each but there were only 63,000 of the rarest two 10p coins that went into circulation.
Despite this, there are other coins in the collection that have sold for more on eBay.
While the Yeoman Warder usually sells for around £2 on eBay, the World Wide Web design can fetch up to £13.
Meanwhile, the Robin 10p can sell for as much as £17.50.
Most read in Money
A £2 coin minted with a mistake on it could be worth up to £1,000, according to an expert.
A different circulated £2 error coin featuring the Shoulders of Giants design has previously been valued at £1,300.
We've also reported before how Richard Bird, a window cleaner from Hull, found an “extremely rare” new £1 coin printed with two different dates – and experts estimated it could be worth up to £3,000.
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