Rare Olympic swimming 50p error coin sells for almost £600 on eBay
A RARE Olympic 50p coin has sold on eBay for £590 - that's more than 1,180 times its face value.
The Royal Mint released 29 new 50p designs to mark the London 2010 Olympic Games, each depicting a different competitive sport.
The design that sold for hundreds of pounds was the aquatic coin featuring a swimmer, but it was actually minted by mistake.
Ahead of the coin's release in 2011, the Royal Mint redesigned the aquatics 50p to show less water crossing the swimmer making their face more visible.
But a small number of coins were accidentally struck with the original design and entered into circulation.
Nobody knows exactly how many of the error coins were mistakenly made, which makes them even more valuable to a collector.
Coin expert Colin Bellamy, who runs Coin Hunter, previously told The Sun that the coin could be worth between £1,000 and £1,500.
One of these coins sold for £820 on eBay back in 2014, according the ChangeChecker.org, but this most recent sale is one of the highest prices we've seen since then.
But Colin also warned that buyers should beware because there are a number of fakes on the market too.
He said: "There are large numbers of copies of this coin, some sellers list items to deceive people into thinking they are buying a real Royal Mint produced coin.
"Stay away from eBay listings. Your best bet may be a car boot sale."
The best way to find out if your error coin is genuine
RARE and valuable coins can go for a hefty sum - but how do you know if your coin is the result of a genuine minting error?
The best way to find out if you have an error coin is to send it to the Royal Mint museum, which will analyse it and see if it is a result of a genuine minting error or not.
It'll normally take a couple of weeks to get the results back to you.
But remember, there's a difference between a genuine error coin and one that is just imperfect, for example with a design that is not as clear as you'd expect.
And whatever you do, don't be tempted to splash your cash without evidence from the Mint confirming that it's a genuine error.
Typically, uncirculated commemorative coins sell for the most thanks to their near-mint conditions but this one sold for hundreds of pounds even though it had entered circulation and turned up in someone's change.
The coin was listed on the auction site on May 13 for just 1p but sold for almost £600 10 days later, after fetching 47 bids from 12 interested parties.
The seller was honest about the coin's condition and included some detailed photographs that showed all of the scratches and blemishes in the coin.
Fifty pence coins weigh 8g, according to the Royal Mint, and the seller photographed the coin on a set of scales that came in at 8.1g in a bid to prove that the coin was genuine, something that the bidders seemed satisfied with.
Of course, a coin is only worth what someone will pay for it so there's no guarantee that yours will sell for as much.
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Coin Hunter has a new tool that reveals how much your rare 50p coin is really worth on eBay.
It's not the only coin tracker available - ChangeChecker.org launched own eBay league table this time last year.
Reckon you've got a 50p coin that might be worth a small fortune? We've put together a roundup of the rarest and most valuable 50p coins so that you can check your change.
The dangers of selling your coins on eBay
THE most valuable coins are usually those that have low mintage numbers or those with an error.
These are often deemed the most valuable by collectors.
Once you’ve found out whether the coin is real or not, you have a number of options - either selling it through a coin dealer, at auction or on eBay.
Sell it at auction
If you’ve got a coin that you would like to sell at auction then you can contact a member of the British Numismatic Trade Association.
They usually deal in very old coins but they may be able to help you assess whether it’s worth selling your coin at auction or whether it would be valuable to a collector.
Sell it on eBay
If you want to sell the coin you’ve found in your spare change on eBay then you need to know the risks.
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.
In 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 the buyer's account about the unpaid item or remove their ability to bid and buy.
This is because in order to sign up to the website, users do not need to put in valid bank or PayPal details before making a bid.
If a bidder refuses to pay, then the only option for sellers is to give “second chance offers” to other bidders or relist the item.
For items of a high value, eBay recommends that sellers put a limit on their listing to approve bidders.
It means bidders must email you before placing a bid but NOT that they must pay out the cash if they win.
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