Check your pockets, wallets, purses and corners of your home as a 50p coin has sold for more than 23x its face value on eBay.
The seller from Blackburn said the Atlantic salmon 50p coin was uncirculated but there is a chance you’ll find this coin in your spare change.
This is because it is one of eight coin designs that reflect the King’s passion for conservation and the natural world and in October 2023, the Royal Mint said it would expect the coins to enter circulation by the end of 2023.
The collection features different designs on coins ranging from the 1p to the £2.
The Atlantic salmon 50p coin sold for £11.95 after starting a mini bidding war on the online auction site with 12 bids being placed.
Which other coins are in the collection?
The designs are inspired by flora and fauna, celebrating creatures such as the red squirrel, the hazel dormouse and the bee.
- 1p – Hazel dormouse
- 2p – Red squirrel
- 5p – Oak tree leaf
- 10p – Capercaillie
- 20p – Puffin
- 50p – Atlantic salmon
- £1 – Bees
- £2 – National flowers
5 incredibly rare and valuable British coins
The description of the Atlantic salmon 50p coin issued by the Royal Mint says: “Wild populations are low due to factors such as river pollution, habitat loss, river heating and overfishing.
“They can be found in clean rivers in Scotland and Wales along with those in North and South West England.”
At the time the designs were unveiled, the Royal Mint said the designs, officially known as definitives, mark the final chapter of the King’s transition onto coinage.
Recommended reading:
- How to get your old coins valued - are you sitting on a fortune?
- Check your change as seller receives £2,500 for this 50p coin
- Lancashire seller receives £134 for this 50p coin- have you got one somewhere?
Which Royal Mint 50p coin is the rarest?
The rarest of the Royal Mint’s most valuable 50p coins is the Kew’s Garden 50p, which was designed to mark the 250th anniversary of the gardens in 2009. Only 210,000 coins were ever minted with this design.
The Kew Gardens 50p sells for £156.25 on average, but one seller received over £700 for one when they sold it on eBay.
Seven Olympic 50p coins from the 2012 Olympic Games feature in the Royal Mint’s top 10 most valuable 50p coins.
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