Rare Kew Gardens 50p sells for £151 on eBay – how to spot one in your change
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A RARE Kew Gardens 50p coin has sold for £151 on eBay.
Bidders were so keen to get their hands on the rare coin that they rocketed its worth by the end of the sale, over 300 times more than its face value of just 50p.
It's not the most we've seen a coin like this go for though, as another listed only days before, sold for almost £40 more as a bidder staked their claim with an offer of £190.
It's also not the first time this particular seller has found themself quids-in.
The eBay user, Debbie May, has seen the cash pour in for her other rare coins up for grabs on the online auction site - including another Kew Gardens copy she sold in November for £165.
That one attracted the attention of 22 bids in total, as the price of the coin shot up from £10 originally to another £155 on top that collectors were willing to pay for such a rare version.
This time though, 10 bidders battled it out over 10 days to walk away with the coin.
They placed 20 bids between them, but it was a tight race to secure the sale.
RARE COINS AND VALUABLE NOTES
Why does the Kew Gardens 50p always sell so high?
It's no ordinary 50p coin.
In fact, it's one of the most sought after according to both The Royal Mint and Change Checker.
On the obverse the 50p doesn't stand out from any other - Queen Elizabeth II's fourth portrait sits proudly as it does on the billions of other 50ps in circulation.
But on the reverse side, the famous Chinese Pagoda from Kew Gardens is depicted.
It's this indicator that means bidders are usually willing to pay much more than its face value.
When the 50 pence piece was released in 2009, only 210,000 were minted - a fraction compared to more common 50ps.
It was designed to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Botanic Gardens and features the dates “1759” and “2009” to show this.
Often commemorative coins will resell on eBay for a lot more than their face value.
It's usually because, like the Kew Gardens 50p, they are produced in low numbers so demand from collectors is high.
Other rare 50p coins to look out for including the 2012 Olympics set that each depict various sporting events from the world-renowned games.
How to spot one in your change
It's always worthing having a rifle through your spare change to see if you have any rarities of your own to boast.
If you find one you could make a lot of money from it on eBay.
A good way to check if you're in the money is by taking a look at other listings on the site.
You can check if something's the real deal by looking at how many people have been willing to bid for it in the past - and how much they've driven the price up by too.
Rare error coins usually sell for a lot too despite being manufactured wrong in some way or another.
They'll usually have some noticeable fault that happened in the minting process, but this only makes biders more keen to get a hold of one.
Always be cautious of fakes though, as they'll often show up online.
Experts like or will check if your change is legitimate and worth what others are saying too.
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There's no hard and fast rule of how much a coin is worth though, and it's really only worth what someone is willing to pay.
You should also always keep in mind that on eBay a buyer could pull out, which means the coin won't have sold for the price it says it has.
Rare coins and valuable notes - is yours worth a mint?
- Five rarest coins - do you have one?
- The 13 most valuable £2 coins in circulation
- How valuable are the rarest £1 coins?
- Most rare and valuable 50p coins in circulation
- Rare and most valuable 20p coins that could be worth up to £750
- Rarest 10p coins in circulation
- Rare 2p coins revealed
- How to check if you have a rare and valuable banknote
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