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Rare Kew Gardens 50p coin sells for £200 on eBay and there are thousands more in circulation
27 February 2020, 10:33 | Updated: 27 February 2020, 10:36
A rare coin in your piggy bank could be worth more than £200.
If you have ever bought a coin from the Royal Mint, there's a chance it could be worth hundreds.
The rare 50p coin which was created to celebrate 250 years since London's Kew Gardens opened has recently sold for almost £203 on eBay.
Released in 2009, the 50p features the Chinese Pagoda which was built in 1761.
The good news for coin collectors is that only 210,000 were released at the time, meaning it’s considered one of the rarest in circulation.
According to The Royal Mint, this means around one in every 300 households in the UK could be sitting on the 50p.
It’s even topped ChangeChecker's scarcity index over the past few years, with collectors desperate to get their hands on one.
While previous coins have sold for between £9-£190, this particular 50p was listed with a high starting price of £80.
It received 10 bids over a seven day auction period before it eventually sold for £202.74.
Those who purchased similar coins from the Royal Mint back in 2009 would have paid around £30, but can now expect to fetch up to £300 today.
The Royal Mint also reissued a batch of the Kew Gardens coins to mark five decades of the 50ps, but these have ‘2019’ stamped on them and make around £50 on eBay.
Read More: Unique £1 'mistake' coin sells for a whopping £112 on eBay
This comes after a Paddington Bear 50p coin recently fetched its lucky owner a whopping £300.
The rare coin was first released less than a year ago, in August 2019.
It has the engraving of the beloved children's book character in front of the huge London landmark and was sold by the Royal Mint originally.
It's unknown whether the coin was brand new or not, but the picture on the eBay listing suggests it had been used as it's covered in scratches.
At £300, it sold for its asking price, despite only attracting two bids in total.
Read More: Rare Paddington Bear 50p coin sells for whopping £300 on eBay
