Check your change for rare Olympic 50p error coins that could be worth £3,000
We all have odd bits of change lying around the house, but what if those couple of coins could actually be worth way more than their face value? One expert is urging people to look through their change for a highly sought after coin that could worth an astounding £3,000.
The coin to look out for is a 50 pence piece from 2011 with a specific error. The coins were originally minted to celebrate the 2012 London Olympics. The design was centred around aquatic sports and features a swimmer with swimming goggles and a cap.
Millions of these coins were produced, but some coins have significantly upped their value due to a small variation being found on early editions of the penny. The Mirror reveals that a coin like this was gone for £3,500 in the past due to a specific error in the design. But what is the error?
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A coin expert on TikTok, known as UK Coin Hunt, has brought this mysterious coin variation to his followers' attention. He said: "£3,000 for just this 50p, which is absolutely bonkers.". He explained to his viewers that the original 50p design included lines on the aquatic image that were meant to represent water covering the swimmer's face.
He continued: "The first one they got approved, then they obviously changed it over where the lines weren't covering the face anymore. But that's a very, very rare coin." Therefore, you need to be looking for a coin that has lines over the swimmer's face as the design was soon changed afterwards.
He does warn that it is unlikely that this coin could be in your change, but there is a chance that it could still be in circulation, so it is best to check anyway.
He added: "I would say you’re not likely to find it in your change but there is always a chance that you will see one on the internet and you can buy it but it’ll cost a lot of money. A couple years ago they were only about £1,000 but now they're fetching anywhere from like £2,500 to £3,500."
At the time of writing, an uncirculated version of the coin is being sold by the Britannia Coin Company for a staggering £3,995. The website states: "These coins are eagerly sought by coin collectors and the 2011 aquatics coin, designed by Jonathan Olliffe, is already a fairly rare release.
"In the more common version of this BU 50p the face of the swimmer is clearly visible under the swimming pool waters. In this rare variation watery lines appear across the swimmers goggle-wearing visage. Supposedly only 600 of these ‘lines across the face’ Aquatics 50ps were issued before the design was changed making them the rarest base metal 50p ever released."
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