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A rare 50p coin has sold for £155 after sparking a bidding war online. Many coins are sought after by collectors and this particular one, which was minted in 2009, is one of the rarest in the UK.
The coin was launched more than 15 years ago, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the opening of Kew Gardens. It features the iconic Chinese Pagoda from the gardens on one side and the late Queen’s portrait on the reverse.
The Royal Mint is thought to have produced around 210,000 of these coins, which experts value at around £145 – meaning one lucky eBay seller sold theirs for above its current estimated worth. The coin was listed as “2009 Genuine Kew Gardens 50p Coin In Very Good Circulated Condition *Rare Find*” on the site, with an initial starting price of just a penny.
(Image: Royal Mint)
But after a 34-way bidding war ensued, the price jumped up and up, before it finally went for £155. The buyer also had to pay £2.70 for Royal Mail tracked 48 hour delivery, after making the winning bid on Sunday, January 5.
Experts estimate that there are still hundreds of thousands of Kew Gardens 50p coins in circulation, so it could be well worth checking purses and wallets. The first thing you should do, should you come across one, is check the date on it.
This is because the Royal Mint reissued a batch of the coins in 2019 to celebrate 50 years of the 50p, and this version doesn’t tend to sell for as much. That said, these ones have been known to sell for around £70 or £80 on eBay so it could still be well worth putting it up for auction.
