1 week Ago By Patrick Harrington
THE UK's rarest coin has sold for 292 times its face value after an intense bidding war on eBay. The collectable 50p coin is stamped with a Kew Gardens design and eventually went for £146 online. 3 A rare 50p coin featuring a Kew Gardens design sold for almost 300 times its face value 3 The collectable coin bears a picture of the Chinese pagoda at Kew Credit: Ebay 3 The other side features the usual effigy of the late Queen Credit: Ebay Described by the Royal Mint itself as "the most sought-after" coin, the Kew Gardens 50p was minted in 2009.
The Royal Mint website says: "Nothing gets people excited quite like this original 2009 design." It produced 210,000 of them, and most are in private hands. There are hundreds of millions of 50p coins in circulation, so the odds of you coming across one are slim - but not impossible.
read more in money CHOC LOT Shoppers race to get hands on rare KitKat flavour spotted at major discount chain DOORS CLOSED Morrisons is shutting all stores across England and Wales for 24 hours in days Stamped onto the coin's reverse side, or its "tail", is a design depicting the famous Chinese Pagoda at Kew - the nations most famous royal botanical garden. It shows the impressive tower, which is almost 300 years old, adorned with a simple but elegant leaf pattern. Demand for this particular design was low at the time of release, which is why only a small number was created.
But it has since become iconic amongst collectors Most read in Money SHOP SHUT Family-run bakery closes leaving punters gutted SHATTERED My life's ruined by my rich neighbour's 'glass MONSTROSITY' Grand Designs home CUTTING DOWN I've saved £1,300 with easy bill swap trick - it paid for my family's holiday LOCATION LOCATION Your air fryer is in the wrong place and it’s costing you £91 a year The Royal Mint included the coveted coin in its collection called Celebrating 50 years of the 50p 2019 British Culture Set. The special coin's legendary status is what drove such a fierce bidding war on eBay. RARE £1 COIN Its starting price was just 99p - but that soon climbed.
Over seven days, 15 different bidders place 33 different bids - and it went down to the wire. The wining bid of £139.69 was placed with less than a minute of the auction left on the clock.
When scouring your cash for one of these, you could also come across a 2019 version of the coin. It was released as part of the Culture Set, and bears the same pagoda design but a different effigy of the late Queen. Another extremely rare 50p coin was up for sale for a staggering 10,000 times its face value.
The " extremely rare " 50p coin is "a must-have for any coin collector" and was being sold by a Bolton resident for more than £5,000. Commemorating the coronation of King Charles III, the coin was first circulated in 2022. Read more on the Scottish Sun HAGING ON Rangers star 'wants to LEAVE' as he's linked with Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce SINISTER ATTACK Woman, 72, & boy, 12, attacked by Daniel rivals as gangland feud spreads It was the first coin to bear the face of the newly appointed monarch, which quickly made it a "super" rare piece for collectors .
This piece of "British currency history" is being sold on eBay for a whopping £5,086.72. 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.
