Rare £2 error coin sells for £138 on eBay – how to spot one in your change
A RARE £2 coin with a minting error has sold for £138 on eBay after eight collectors went head to head in a bidding war for it.
The coin, which the seller claims was minted in 2003, has been struck twice on both sides.
This means that the writing around the outside has been doubled up, and the Queen’s head is not aligned in the centre.
The other side of the coin, which features the “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” design, also has the same minting error.
Both designs on each face of the pound have “fallen off” the side.
Coins with mistakes tend to be among the highest valued because of their extremely limited numbers.
They tend to be in demand with collectors, because it’s pretty rare if coins with an error make it into circulation.
Many will pay over the odds to get their hands on one, and this particular £2 caught the eyes of eight coin fanatics looking to get their hands on it.
One eager bidder snatched the coin at the last minute with a £138 bid.
The Royal Mint manufactures between three million and four million coins a day, so you can see why sometimes things go wrong.
You can get imperfect coins verified by the Royal Mint, which will be able to let you know if your change is legitimate or not – you’d be surprised at how many fake coins are in circulation.
Getting the coin looked at can also reassure your buyer that they’re paying for the real deal – and it could push up the price too.
It’s not the only coin with a double-strike minting error on it that has been sold for hundreds of pounds recently.
The best way to find out if your error coin is genuine
RARE and valuable coins can go for a hefty sum - but how do you know if your coin is the result of a genuine minting error?
The best way to find out if you have an error coin is to send it to the Royal Mint museum, which will analyse it and see if it is a result of a genuine minting error or not.
It’ll normally take a couple of weeks to get the results back to you.
But remember, there’s a difference between a genuine error coin and one that is just imperfect, for example with a design that is not as clear as you’d expect.
And whatever you do, don’t be tempted to splash your cash without evidence from the Mint confirming that it’s a genuine error.
A £1 coin minted in 2003 with the same mistake was sold for over £225, while another double-struck pound was sold for £282.
While in February last year, a mis-struck £1 coin which looked like a fried egg sold for £112.
If you notice your spare change looks different to what it’s supposed to, you might want to keep hold of it and check out how much it could be worth on eBay.
You can also use an online tool called Coin Hunter, which gives you an estimated valuation of your coin based on the average of the most recent sales, as well as a range of how much you can expect it to fetch.
You can also check how much coins previously sold with the same or similar minting error have been sold for on eBay to give you an idea of pricing.
To do this, search the full name of the coin, select the “sold” listing and then toggle the search to “highest value”.
It will give you an idea of the amount of money that the coin could go for.
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