These coins that are still in circulation have been minted using the wrong materials, making them valuable to collectors
Brits have been urged to keep an eye out for two coins in circulation that could be worth up to £1,000 combined. These pieces need to feature specific errors made during the minting process that are extremely sought after by collectors.
A coin expert, who is known by the account name the Coin Collecting Wizard, alerted his more than 200,000 followers on social media to the mistakes to look for. Speaking on video sharing platform TikTok, he said: “Have you ever found a coin that just doesn’t look right? It could be an error.”
Firstly he revealed that a new £1 coin design that is struck on an old £1 coin base – making it nickel-brass material throughout – could be worth more than £200. “This error £1 coin has had the design for the new £1 coin struck on an old £1 coin base,” the expert said.
“The error is believed to have happened when the familiar round £1 coin was replaced with the new 12-sided coin in 2017. One recently sold on eBay for £205 in 2018.”
The second, and even more valuable coin, is a 20 pence piece struck on bronze. He continued: “One mistake collectors want to get their hands on is this normally silver 20p coin in bronze.
“This happened after being struck onto the metal normally struck for a 1p coin that had slipped into the wrong batch. This error has been confirmed by the Royal Mint as an extremely sought-after, minting error.
“These are super rare and are not specific to any year. We’ve had a look online to see how much these error coins sell for, but it doesn’t look like there are any currently available on sale. But experts have previously valued these coins at £750 each.”
Rare coins in the UK
The Royal Mint says more than 30 billion coins are believed to be in circulation in the UK today. Amazingly, the Royal Mint has been creating coins since AD 886.
Therefore it is inevitable that people across the country own coins that are no longer in use. Some of these coins could possibly be rare and might be very valuable, the Royal Mint says.
Their website says: “Many people have collected coins throughout their lives or have been handed coins which have moved from generation to generation. The decimal system we use today has only been around since 1971 and many of the shapes and sizes of coins in daily use have changed in that time.
“In fact, the circulating bimetallic £2 coin is only just over 20 years old.” Their site highlights many rare coins.
Among them are coins from the 1966 European Championship football tournament, for which just under 2,100 gold proof £2 coins were minted.
Many coins from fairly recent times are rare and could be valuable. These include coins from recent years on the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
But some are far older – and if you somehow had one, you’d be in the money. The Royal Mint says the Vigo Five-Guinea coin was one of only a handful made from gold bullion captured by the British fleet at the Battle of Vigo Bay in northern Spain on 23 October 1702.
At an auction in New York, one of these sold for £703,000.
