Full list of quirky rare coins featuring famous characters worth up to £356 – do you have one?

SPOTTING a rare coin lying around the house can sometimes be your ticket to making a few extra quid.

A coin is usually classed as rare if a limited amount of the piece was put into circulation, making it harder for people to get a hold of it.

Sometimes, the coin will have an unusual marking, and other times it can feature a familiar character or cartoon which drives up demand from collectors.

You may have seen recently The Royal Mint released a 50p coin featuring the Gruffalo to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its books.

The Sun has rounded up the most valuable coins featuring quirky characters.

Based off of past sales, if you sold all of these five coins you could fetch a total of £356.

Jemima Puddle-Duck – up to £69.99

Jemima Puddle-Duck is a cute character featured in the Beatrix Potter children’s story: ‘The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck.’

The coin was released in 2016 by The Royal Mint to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the classic tale.

The Royal Mint is the official maker of British coins, and is responsible for making and distributing them

There were just 2.1million of these coins minted, making it a super rare find.

These regularly sell for around £8.50 on eBay.

One sold for £69.99 back in July, but it also came with the original showcase box and packaging, which is worth bearing in mind.

It is also important to remember that coins are only worth how much someone is willing to pay for them.

So why it might sell for a greater sum on month, the next month buyer demand may have dwindled.

007 Bond Coin – up to £27

The Royal Mint released a collection of James Bond coins in 2018 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the classic spy movie.

Amongst the pieces released was a silver 10p coin featuring the iconic 007 gun logo and gun barrel synonymous with the movie series.

It is ranked third on Change Checkers’ latest scarcity index, which features 26 rare 10p coins.

In July, one sold for £27 but more recently it has been snapped up for £10.

The Gruffalo – up to £26

Back in 2019, The Royal Mint issued a pair of commemorative 50p coins to celebrate the story two decades on.

The first 50p nod to the book featured The Gruffalo’s head up close – warts and all.

The second 50p Gruffalo edition shows the entire beast standing in front of a mouse, who is the protagonist of the story, in the deep dark forest, designed by Magic Light Pictures.

The coins cost £10 when they first launched on the Royal Mint website, but now you can only them by on eBay for around £15.

In August, we saw two coins sell for £26 and £22.

These are both high markups compared to the £10 Royal Mint sold them for some five years ago.

However, other people have managed to score Gruffalo coins for as little as £6 on eBay.

Blue Peter – up to £216

This Blue Peter 50p coin was released in 2009 ahead of the London Olympic games in 2012.

It features a cartoon of a high jumper on the back, with the design etched by a nine-year-old girl.

The image was created by schoolgirl Florence Jackson for a competition run by popular kids TV show Blue Peter.

It features a high jumper bending backwards over a pole, with a surprised look on its face.

Florence’s drawing was selected out of 17,000 entries, and she became the youngest person to ever design a coin.

Over 2.2 million of the Blue Peter 50p coins were issued, with most minted in 2011.

In Change Checker’s most recent scarcity index the coin is ranked 26th in the table of 50p coins, with 25 scarcity index points.

Earlier this month, a bidder paid £216 for the coin on eBay, suggesting demand for the coin is high.

A few bids before this another one of the coins sold for £146.

Flopsy Bunny – up to £17

This 50p coin features the Flopsy Bunny from the classic childhood tale of Peter Rabbit.

The Royal Mint only produced 1.4million of these coins so it is quite rare.

Change Checkers’ latest scarcity index shows the cartoon rabbit is ranked 10th in the table of rare coins with a scarcity index of 58.

Sellers have ambitiously listed the coin for £750 on eBay but no offers have been made for the piece.

The most recent sale made on the coin was for £8.99 in August.

However, in the past it has sold for £17.. so it is always worth keeping an eye on eBay to see what other sellers have secured a bid for.

How to spot rare coins and banknotes

Rare coins and notes hiding down the back of your sofa could sell for hundreds of pounds.

If you are lucky enough to find a rare £10 note you might be able to sell it for multiple times its face value.

You can spot rare notes by keeping an eye out for the serial numbers.

These numbers can be found on the side with the Monarch’s face, just under the value £10 in the corner of the note.

Also if you have a serial number on your note that is quite quirky you could cash in thousands.

For example, one seller bagged £3,600 after spotting a specific serial number relating to the year Jane Austen was born on one of their notes.

You can check if your notes are worth anything on eBay, just tick “completed and sold items” and filter by the highest value.

It will give you an idea of what people are willing to pay for some notes.

But do bear in mind that yours is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

This is also the case for coins, you can determine how rare your coin is by looking a the latest scarcity index.

The next step is to take a look at what has been recently sold on eBay.

Experts from Change Checker recommend looking at “sold listings” to be sure that the coin has sold for the specified amount rather than just been listed.

People can list things for any price they like, but it doesn’t mean it will sell for that amount.

We explain further how you can find out if you have a rare coin worth thousands sitting around the house.