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A rare Paddington Bear Tower of London 50p coin has sold on eBay for £300.
The 50p – which has an engraving of the children’s character standing in front of the London landmark – was first released less than a year ago, in August 2019.
The rare coin sold for the asking price, despite it only attracting two bids.
It was one of two Paddington Bear coins released that year – the other one was engraved with an image of the Peruvian bear tipping his hat while standing in front of St Paul’s Cathedral.
While the seller did not confirm if the coin was in mint condition, the picture used on the eBay page showed some small scratches, which suggest it may be used.
An uncirculated version of the coin may be worth even more to collectors provided it is in mint condition.
The Royal Mint introduced the Paddington Bear coin series in 2018.
Some of the editions released that year have since sold on eBay for thousands of pounds.
However, the Kew Gardens 50p remains the rarest and most coveted coin for collectors.
Released in 2009, to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens, only 210,000 coins were struck.
Usually 50p coins have a mintage of around one million.
The fewer there are, the more valuable they’ll be.
Meanwhile, the Royal Mint has announced that it will be releasing five new coins in 2020, including a new Olympic 50p, which is tipped to be popular with coin collectors.
