An extremely uncommon 50p coin has sold for a small fortune on eBay. Fifty bids were place on the rare coin before it finally sold for £175.
The Kew Gardens coin is one of the rarest in the UK with a total of 210,000 coins featuring the design being made and released in 2009. The bidder paid 350 times the value of the 50p in order to add it to their coin collection.
Essex Live reports that the 'genuine 2009 Kew Gardens 50p coin' listing on eBay created a 50-way bidding war before finally being sold for £175. The coin features the famous Chinese Pagoda at the Royal Botanic Garden on the tails side - The Queen's face features as normal on the other side.
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It's always worth checking your change for some of the rarest coins in circulation across the UK. However, finding a Kew Gardens 50p coin doesn't necessarily mean you're about to make a fortune.
A re-circulated version of the iconic coin was minted in 2019, as part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 50p coin. As a much higher number of this coin was minted, it is considerably less valuable to collectors.
According to Coin Hunter, the Kew Gardens 50p piece normally sells for between £150.89 and £161.50, meaning this coin has sold for above the average. Earlier this month, we spotted a coin of the same design selling for £150 on eBay .
If you're looking to begin your own collection, it is important to make sure you're not falling for any scams. Coin enthusiast website Change Checker has some tips on the best ways to ensure a Kew Gardens 50p coin is genuine.
They say the important things to look out for include the 'frosted design' or 'very high relief' on the design, which can be used on fakes. They have also warned that coins that are 'too shiny' could be fakes, seeing as they have been in circulation since 2009 and many will have lost their shine by now.
