Iconic Christmas character to spot on rare 50p that makes it worth 21 times face value
SPOTTING this iconic Christmas character on a 50p coin could make it worth 21 times its face value.
Each year, The Royal Mint releases a 50p coin featuring Raymond Briggs’ beloved festive character, The Snowman.
Over the past seven years, the UK’s official producer of coins has released a new 50p featuring the cartoon.
Since 2018, around 700,000 Snowman coins have been snapped up by collectors worldwide, making it a firm favourite amongst collectors.
Its latest design has already been released and features The Snowman putting a star on top of the Christmas tree.
The coins won’t be entering general circulation, meaning you will have to buy one from The Royal Mint website.
But coin collection professionals at Change Checker have said that previous editions of the 50p can sell for a pretty penny on sites such as eBay.
For example, the Royal Mint’s 2018 edition of The Snowman coin, which features the iconic image of him flying in the sky, sold for £10.50 this Ocotber.
The 2019 edition, depicting the lovable cartoon as he comes to life, sold for £10.99 this month also.
A full breakdown of how much each sold for on eBay this month can be seen below.
- 2018 – £10.50
- 2019 -£10.99
- 2020 -£9.57
- 2021 – £8.99
- 2022 -£8.94
- 2023 -£8.99
Experts at Change Checker said: “The Snowman 50ps can fetch a pretty penny on the secondary market, with the 2018 and 2019 editions selling for up to 21 times their face value. “
“If this data is anything to go by, the 2024 The Snowma 50p is sure to be popular with collectors.”
However, it is important to remember that a coin is only worth how much a buyer is willing to pay for it.
So if you are keen to flog one of your pieces online you should keep that in mind.
Character coins are a fan favourite amongst 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 recently rounded up a full list of quirky rare coins that could be worth £356, which you can check out here.
Is your small change worth a fortune?
IF you think that you might have a rare coin then you might be able to make a real mint.
The most valuable coins usually have a low mintage or an error.
These are often deemed the most valuable by collectors.
You should check how much the coin is selling for on eBay.
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 is going for.
You can either choose to sell the coin on eBay or through a specialist such as ChangeChecker.org.
If you choose the auction website then remember to set a minimum price that is higher or at the very least equal to the face value of the coin.
Even if your coin “sells” on eBay for a high price there’s no guarantee that the buyer will cough up.
It its terms and conditions, the auction website states that bidders enter a “legally binding contract to purchase an item”, but there’s no way to enforce this rule in reality.
The most eBay can do is add a note to their account for the unpaid item or remove their ability to bid and buy.
How much can I buy the new Snowman coin for?
You can purchase the Snowman coins from The Royal Mint website.
Prices start from £12 for a brilliant uncirculated coin and £25 for a colour version, all the way up to £1,220 for a gold proof coin.
Collectors are also already listing the coins on eBay.
At the moment you can find one of the brilliant uncirculated 50p coins listed for £9.49 and the coloured version for £14.99.
Also listed on the bidding site is a silver-proof coin for £109.50.
You should bear in mind that if you can still buy the coin directly from The Royal Mint website then it is unlikely you will get much more for it on eBay.
Usually, collectors buy these limited edition coins in the hope that they will go up in value as there is only a certain number of them available, but this is not always the case.
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.