How famous silhouette on your 50p coin could make it worth 9000 TIMES more – check your change now
A FAMOUS silhouette on your 50p coin could make it worth more than 9000 times its face value.
The pieces were minted in 2019 to commemorate character Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The Queen Elizabeth II 50p: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle marked 160 years since the birth of the renowned author.
The prolific writer is best known for the popular detective stories featuring the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
Stephen Raw’s coin design features a silhouette of Sherlock Holmes smoking a pipe, surrounded by a few of Doyle’s most-famous story titles.
The head side features the fifth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, designed by Royal Mint engraver Jody Clark.
One of the pieces was recently listed on eBay for £4,500, more than 9000 times the coin’s face value.
The listing read: “Crafted to perfection with a fineness of 0.999, this coin is a must-have for any British decimal coinage enthusiast.
“Featuring a very rare design, this coin is a true gem that you won’t want to miss.”
Others have also been listed on the marketplace, including multiple for £1,000.
While more than eight million of the coins were minted, some are rarer than others.
Certain variations are incredibly sought after by collectors, including ones with errors or special designs.
The Sherlock Holmes 50p coin was also released in different versions including Brilliant Uncirculated Packs, Silver proof versions, silver proof piedfort versions and also gold proof versions.
This, however, is not the only rare coin out there that you could find lying around in your change.
A rare 20p piece recently sold for £75 on eBay.
It was one of a number of coins struck with the wrong dye, meaning that no date is featured on the change.
It is thought around 250,000 coins have the error.
Similarly, a design flaw on a £2 led it to be sold for more than 40 times its value on eBay.
The coin was originally available to buy around five years ago to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Jersey Zoo, but now punters can only get it second-hand.
It is a commemorative coin meaning it is limited edition and would not usually be given as change if you bought something in a shop.
What are the most rare and valuable coins?
- Five rarest coins – do you have one?
- The 13 most valuable £2 coins in circulation
- How valuable are the rarest £1 coins?
- Most rare and valuable 50p coins in circulation
- Rare and most valuable 20p coins that could be worth up to £750
- Rarest 10p coins in circulation
- Rare 2p coins revealed
- How to check if you have a rare and valuable banknote
The rare Jersey Zoo coin sold for £85 in August.
What makes a coin rare?
Rare coins have been known to sell for thousands of pounds in the past with collectors keen to snap them up.
A coin is considered rare usually if it falls into one of two categories – having a low mintage or being an “error” coin.
The mintage of a coin relates to how many of it were struck and put into general circulation.
The lower amount of a coin that was created and is available to the public, the rarer and, potentially, more valuable it is.
A coin may also be classed as rare if there was a mistake made during the manufacturing process which means very few are out there – an error coin.
In some cases, there are just a handful of each error coin for the public to get their hands on making them incredibly rare and valuable.
You can check a coin’s rarity on sites such as Change Checker which show how many were minted and if they are in demand from coin collectors.