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Rare and limited edition coins can sell for hundreds of pounds – even if they have minting errors or flaws.
A rare Olympic 50p coin reportedly recently sold on eBay for £590 – more than 1,180 times its face value.
Minted by mistake
The Royal Mint released 29 new 50p designs in order to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games, with each of these depicting a different competitive sport.
However, one particular 50p coin was an error coin, accidentally released ahead of the London 2012 Olympics. The coin had an aquatic design, featuring a swimmer, and was minted by mistake.
The Royal Mint redesigned the aquatics 50p to show less water crossing the swimmer, in order to make their face more visible, but a small number of coins was accidentally released with the original design.
It remains unknown as to exactly how many of the error coins were mistakenly made, which makes them even more valuable to a collector.
Another Olympic swimmer coin is also up for auction on eBay (Photo: eBay)
Sold on eBay
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The coin was listed on eBay for 10 days and sold for £590, after receiving 47 bids.
Coin expert Colin Bellamy, who runs Coin Hunter, previously told The Sun that the coin could be worth between £1,000 and £1,500.
Mr Bellamy also warned that buyers should beware of fake coins on the market.
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.”
Team GB 50p coins for Tokyo 2020 Olympics
A Royal Proclamation published on 12 July announced that a new 50p coin will be issued next year, showing support of Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Change Checker has explained that the final design of the coin is yet to be revealed, but it is set to feature symbols that depict individual Olympic sports, similar to the 2012 Olympic 50p set.
The coin will also show the Olympic Rings and is likely feature the Team GB logo, the inscription ‘TEAM GB’ and the date ‘2020’.
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