The 20p coin is considered the ‘holy grail’ of UK change and one of these could be sitting in your pocket. But it’s worth noting only a certain amount of these feature the error
Ever wondered if you’re sitting on a fortune? Just recently the rarest 50p coin with 200,000 in circulation turned heads as it’s worth a lot more than face value. So it’s pretty understandable why collectors are going wild for rare coins at the moment.
Now the ‘holy grail’ of UK change is causing a meltdown on Instagram after the @CoinCollectingWizard, who boasts 30,100 followers, shared an insight into this special 20p coin you must look out for. It is believed the problem impacted around 250,000 coins of the Shield 20p piece so it means just one of these holds a value of £50, or more.
In the post, he said: “It’s all to do with a dye mix up at The Royal Mint causing the coin to have no date.
“This problem affected less than 250,000 coins of the 136million 20p pieces minted in 2008 and was due to the previous obverse the heads side being used with the new reverse the tails side design meaning the year of issue did not feature at all.”
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Speaking about the piece, he continued: “Considered by many as one of the holy grails of UK change, collecting the undated 20p is always at the top of any coin collectors’ wish list.”
The Royal Mint also confirmed this is the first time in over 300 years where a coin had entered circulation without a date.
This essentially makes it extremely sought after by coin collectors.
“As you can see from these eBay sold prices, the undated 20p is an easy sell for around £50, so always make sure to check those 20p coins,” the Instagram user concluded.
The coin is one of the rarest 20p pieces out there and can be extremely hard to find.
In 2008, The Royal Mint changed the design of the circulating coins which is when the year of the design moved from the reverse to the obverse.
This led to a batch of these coins to be struck with the incorrect old obverse, meaning the coin didn’t display a date on it.
READ MORE: Rarest 50p coin with 200k in circulation – and it’s worth hundreds more than face value