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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
National
Steven White & Mia O'Hare

50p rarer than Kew Gardens coin may be worth £60

A 50p coin which is rarer than the sought after Kew Gardens piece could be worth £60. The coin is from the 1990s and may be valued at over a hundred times its original value.

The EC coin was circulated by the Royal Mint between 1992 and 1993. Now, the coins are 30 years old. The EC 50p coins were minted in celebration of the forerunner to the European Union.

The Mirror reports the coin celebrated the Presidency of the Council of European Community Ministers and the completion of the Single Market. The coin's design features a birds-eye view of a conference table linked with lines and 12 stars. Twelve chairs are also placed around the furniture - one for each minister.

Read more: Check your 50ps as rare coin sells for £2,500

Only 109,000 of these type of 50ps were ever minted. By comparison there were 210,000 Kew Gardens 50p coins made, meaning the EC 50p is almost twice as rare and harder to find.

The EC 50p was stamped on an older, bigger 50p design that was removed from circulation in 1997 and replaced by a smaller version. Although it is rare, some coin experts believe that it is not impossible for people to find one languishing at the bottom of a piggy bank or a wallet.

The design of the EC 50p coin (pictured) features a table with 12 chairs and 12 stars on its design (changechecker.org)

Coin collectors at Change Checker said the EC 50p may be worth up to £60, reports the Daily Star, which works at a 120 times more than its face value. However, despite Kew Garden 50ps being easier to find in theory, their value is worth much more than EC 50p coins. Earlier this year the Mirror reported that the Kew Garden coin sold on eBay for £215 - 430 times its original value.

The valuable piece featured the famous Chinese Pagoda from the gardens being intertwined by a leafy climber and attracted 31 competing bids over a seven-day auction.

The coin was minted in 2009 to celebrate 250 years of Kew Gardens. But anyone lucky enough to find one should check the date as the Royal Mint reissued them in 2019, which typically fetch only around £70 to £80 on the likes of eBay.

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