eBay: ‘Rare’ Paddington Bear 50p coin selling for whopping £2,500 – is it worth it?

Commemorative coins are often released to help celebrate a special occasion. These are of great interest to many people and often appear up for sale on sites such as eBay. A Paddington Bear 50p coin has been given the whopping asking price of £2,500 – is it worth it?

However, the seller all gave potential bidders the option to make an offer, meaning they could be willing to accept a lower offer.

Is it worth it?

The coin features a drawing of the much-loved children’s character in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

It was one of two new Paddington Bear designs released this year after the coins were first introduced in 2018.

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Describing the item, the Westminster Collection website said: “The brand new 2019 Paddington at St. Paul’s Cathedral 50p has been issued by the Royal Mint to continue the celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of the British Bear.

“This new 50p features a design of Paddington based on the CGI-live action movie, and shows Paddington continuing his adventures at the ornate St. Paul’s Cathedral.

“Designed by David Knapton, the reverse of the coin shows an intricate engraving of Paddington in his famous hat outside the London landmark.

“The obverse features Jody Clark’s fifth Portrait of Her Majesty.”

The coin website, Change Checker, is also offering all four Paddington Bear coins for the bargain price of just £17.95.

Commemorative coins are very popular and a coin is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.

However, it is likely that collectors could save money by shopping around for the item.

Which are the rarest £1, £2, 50p, 20p, 10p and 2p coins?

Rarest £2 coins

The rarest £2 coin is the 2002 Commonwealth Games NI coin with 485,500 in circulation. This is followed by the 2002 Commonwealth Games Wales which has 588,500 in circulation.

Next up is the 2015 Navy, and there are 650,000 in circulation.

Rarest £1 coins

The most rare £1 coins are all part of a series celebrating the British capitals.

The rarest of these is the 2011 Edinburgh coin, with 935,000 in circulation. Of the 2011 Cardiff coins there are 1,615,000 in circulation, while the 2010 London coin has 2,635,000 in circulation.

Rarest 50p coin

The rarest 50p coin is the Kew Gardens coin, which is also the rarest coin in circulation. It there were only 210,000 minted.

The football Olympic 50p coin has 1,125,500 in circulation, and the wrestling coin has 1,129,500 in circulation.

It is not so easy to evaluate the rarest 20p coins, 10p coins and even 2p coins as exact circulation figures are not known.

However, various versions of the coins are known to sell for large sums.

These include the dateless 20ps, which are actually part of a run from 2008. There may be between 50,000 and 200,000 of these coins in circulation.

The 1983 ‘New Pence’ 2p coin can also sell for a huge sum, up to £650.