A Kew Gardens 50p coin has just sold for more than £100
Time to check your pockets!
With the Royal Mint releasing new designs of coins every few months, including this year's dinosaur designs, and last year's Wallace & Gromit design, it seems that some coin collectors just can't get enough of the older coins.
It's recently come to light that the Kew Gardens 50p coin has sold on eBay for £120! That particular coin was a special design released to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Botanic Gardens in 2009.
And, although the design has been regularly sought after by collectors, its popularity has recently increased. According to the eBay Tracker on ChangeChecker.org the price change has increased by £18 between last summer and January 2020.
Back in 2009, only 210,000 Kew Gardens 50p coins were made making it incredibly rare, however to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 50p, the design was reissued in 2019.
Now take a look through coins and notes that are worth more than their face value:
UK Crowned Shield £1 coin
Although they are fairly common, they can currently fetch around £3 - £5.50. They are one of the oldest £1 coins around having been minted in 1988, just five years after the £1 coin was introduced.
Edinburgh City £1 coin
This was released in 2011 and is thought to be worth £12 - £16.
Scotland's Thistle and Bluebell £1 coin
Even with a mintage of 5.1 million it is worth £3 - £5 to collectors.
Cardiff City £1 coin
This coin features the Coat of Arms of Cardiff as the principal focus to represent Wales. It is thought to be worth £11 - £15.
London City £1 coin
Although more common than the Scottish and Welsh versions it is still worth £5 - £8.
EC and Kew Gardens
Dating back to 1992/3 this larger 50p coin (left) was issued to celebrate the British presidency of the council of Europe. No longer in circulation could be worth around £40.
The Kew Gardens design was minted to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Only 210,000 coins were made and is now expected to sell on eBay for £70 - £100.
2011 WWF and 2012 The Offside Explained
2011 WWF design of the 50p (left) can often sell for around £200 to collectors.
The Offside Explained 50p apparently regularly changes hands for around £10.
2012 Olympics - Swimmer
Early versions of the coin show the swimmer with the water covering their head, however later versions have the lines of water removed.
According to eBay only 600 of the early version are in circulation, fetching up to £3000 when they were first placed on eBay.
New fiver (£5)
The new £5 note was released into circulation on the 13th September 2016. Notes with serial numbers starting with AA or AK 47 sold for much more than than their face value.
New tenner (£10)
The new £10 note, featuring Jane Austen was released on 14th September 2017.
As before many with the serial number AA or AK 47 were highly sought after as well as those with serial numbers relating to Jane Austen's birthday, date of death, or date the Pride and Prejudice was first published.
Peter Rabbit 50p
The Peter Rabbit collectable coin is available to buy from the Royal Mint.
Benjamin Bunny 50p
Benjamin Bunny was released earlier this year (2017).
Tom Kitten 50p
Tom Kitten was released earlier this year (2017).
Jeremy Fisher 50p
Jeremy Fisher was released earlier this year (2017).
Compared to the other coins, the Kew Gardens design is worth much more than its face value, however the price of the scarcest £2 coin - a NI Commonwealth Games design - is worth around £40 on eBay, whilst an undated 20p is worth £45.
It might be time to check your pockets!
Each year new designs are released by the Royal Mint, some designs in recent years include, Peter Pan, Gruffalo, Professor Stephen Hawking, Peter Rabbit, Sherlock Holmes, and two Paddington Bear designs.
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