A RARE error 10p coin has sold for over 1,000 times more than its face value on online auction site eBay.It’s all because there’s a kink in the shape of the coin – which has made it only more valuable to collectors.
2The rare 10p has been misstruck in the top left corner – but that’s only made it more valuable to collectors
2As many as 19 bids were placed on the coinCredit: ebay
The winning bidder was willing to pay £103.51 for the rare coin.
It sold in January this year, after 19 bids were placed on the listing.
The coin has been mistruck at some point in the minting process.
The Royal Mint manufactures between three million and four million coins a day, so often things will go wrong.
But the seller of this particular coin revealed that only one mistrike had been recorded and was known to experts – so it was sure to be unique.
That means it might be difficult to prove you’ve found one in your own change, but it’s not impossible to come across a rare error every now and again.
RARE COINS AND VALUABLE NOTES
Added to that, the seller explained in the listing that it had been verified by The Royal Mint, so others knew it was the real deal.
The coin design itself is just a regular 10p, and in any other circumstance it would sell for just that.
But because there is a fault in the top left corner that looks like another design is encroaching in on the first, collectors were more interested in snapping it up for their own.
Any mistakes that are usually made will typically be in low numbers – so that means avid coin collectors are more keen to stash them away.
Other coins like it have sold for a few bob in the past – like one 50p that looked like it had been struck by two designs, eventually selling for a whopping £510 on eBay.
The same as the error 10p, the coin will have been struck once, but not ejected properly afterwards, so it received another strike on top that should have been meant for the next in line.
That’s why it looks a bit like another coin is overlapping on the edge.
Is it worth a mint?
If you spot a coin that looks different to normal or is imperfect, you can check it against other listings on eBay to see how much others are selling for, or are willing to pay for a similar strike.
Sometimes bidding wars break out on the most highly sought-after copies, so you could find you make a mint yourself if the coin you sell attracts enough attention.
Error coins are still legal tender, so one could easily fall into your possession.
Usually error coins will have missing elements, like the rare commemorative WW1 £2 coin spotted months back missing the words “two pounds”, or the design printed may …
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