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I'm Steph, mum of three! 👋
Here, I share practical insights on making (and saving!) money. With a knack for budgeting and a passion for financial freedom, I've picked up lots of tips & tricks along the way. And I can't wait to share them with you here!
You might be wondering where you can sell rare 50p coins. Since the 2021 Olympic 50p collection was issued, we’ve become a nation of 50p collectors.
Where To Sell Rare 50p Coins
With The Royal Mint using them frequently as commemorative coins, there’s a high chance you’ve come across a valuable 50p. It’ll be stashed it in your drawer and now you’ll want to know where you can sell it.
The good news is that there’s no shortage of people looking for specific 50p coins for their collections.
The thing about 50p coins is that some of them are worth way more than their face value. Yet lots of them are still in circulation. They’re given out everyday in the change we get in the shops. And most times, we don’t even know!
Keep a look out for some of these coins listed below. You can cash them in as they’re highly collectable.
Which 50p Coins Are The Most Valuable?
- Olympic swimmer 50p original design – this 50p was redesigned before the second batch was minted. The second batch were minted due to the design being unclear. This made the original design shoot up in value. This means they’re currently worth a whopping £1500 (see here for the original design)
- Kew Gardens 50p – Top price at auction was £800, more realistic is £150
- Football ‘offside explained’ 50p – currently worth £12
- Jemima Puddle Duck – from the Beatrix Potter collection this coins worth around £12
- Olympics Triathlon 50p – currently worth £11
- Olympics Judo 50p – currently worth £11
- Olympics wrestling 50p – currently worth £9
If you’ve got rare 50p’s you’ve been collecting and are looking to sell, keep reading. We’ve got best places to do this. Find out the realistic price you’ll get for them and how to know which are the most valuable to look out for.
Do You Have One Of The UK’s Most Valuable 50p Coins?
Keep reading articles about how someone on eBay wants £50k for a 50p? Me too.
Like a lot of us, I started collecting 50p’s during the UK Olympics in 2012.
At the time, I’d taken on some waitressing work that fit in around the family. We’d all check every 50p that came through the (very busy!) restaurant.
It didn’t take long before we all had a set. After that, it seemed like a new 50p was coming out all the time.
I’ve kept collecting 50p coins over the years. There seem to be more and more articles springing up telling us that our 50p coins are worth hundreds. Sometimes thousands :)
I wanted to find out for myself exactly how much my 50p coin collection is worth. They might turn out to be worth something. But where on earth I can sell my rare 50p coins if they do turn out to be valuable?
NEW! The Brexit 50p
There’s a new 50p coming soon, well, 31st October to be precise. It’s the day the UK plans to leave the EU and the new 50p is a marker of this.
It’s planned that there will be millions of these minted, meaning the price won’t immediately be increased.
Worth holding onto though if one turns up in your change.
(The image is of one that was planned for the day we originally planned to leave but didn’t).
Tom Kitten 50p Coin Update
Read our full post about the Tom Kitten 50p here.
The Tom kitten 50p is one we get asked about a lot. There seems to be a lot of hype around this particular coin.
The Royal Mint currently have uncirculated Tom Kitten 50p’s available for £10. This makes the circulated version is worth roughly half: £5.
Despite what you might read, Tom Kittens are not especially rare or valuable. There was no shortage of them when they were first produced.
Looking on eBay to get ideas of the price? Always check the ‘sold’ tab rather than the ‘for sale’ tab. You’ll get a much better idea of the real price they’re selling for!
What’s The Most Valuable And Rare 50p Coin In The UK?
The 50p coin in the UK today that is the most valuable and rare is the Kew gardens 50p coin. The Kew Gardens 50p has held the top spot for around 3 years. It’s officially the rarest 50p in circulation.
This 50p was designed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. No one its rarity until 2014 when the Royal Mint revealed that only 210,00 had been struck at the Mint. After that, the value of the coin increased massively. 2019 has seen the reissue of this coin, however, the 2009 release are still pretty valuable.
The scarcity index records how many of a particular coin were struck at the Mint. This then tells us how rare they are. The Kew 50p reaches 100 on the scarcity scale which is the rarest, and is currently worth between £100- £150.
Not bad for loose change!
More Valuable Coin Posts
How To Tell If Your 50p Is Rare And Valuable Or A FAKE!
It’s a sad fact the there are LOADS of fake 50p coins doing the rounds. Some of them are really ‘good’ fakes, by which I mean it’s very hard to tell that they’re fakes.
So, you find a rare 50p coin in your change! Yay! You’re hoping it might be valuable….but how can you be sure it’s not a fake? Well, there are a couple of ways.
The first way is to weigh the coin. Real UK 50p coins weigh exactly 8 grams. Most of the fake coins seem to weigh slightly less than this. But there’s a catch… I have found that my scales are not of a good enough quality to be this exact. Hmm. I did use kitchen scales and while they’re decent in the kitchen, I guess this is why professional coin valuers do not use kitchen scales :)
The other way involves a magnifying glass and good eyesight! The coin on the left of the photo is REAL. The coin on the right is not. You will see that the neckline is more curved than it should be. Also, the lettering around the coin is slightly larger than it should be.
I found it really hard to tell the fakes from the real ones. Getting caught out with fakes is common. Planning on selling? The best thing to do is to take it to a coin valuer and make sure it’s the real deal.
How Much Are Olympic 50p Coins Worth?
The Olympic 50p coins have been fluctuating in value since they were circulated, and still are now. Change checker has a great chart (below). It tells you how many of which Olympic coin were struck at the Royal Mint.
The lower the mintage number the higher the coins value is a general rule of thumb . It’s a good way to help you figure out which coins are more valuable than others. We can see that the football olympic coin is going to be worth way more than the Archery Olympic coin.
As a rough guide, the Football coin is selling for £40-£45 and the Archery coin for £27-£30. The rest will be somewhere between those.
Where To Sell Your Rare 50p
Even though newspapers keep printing stories about people who are making £100’s on eBay selling valuable rare 50p coins. A quick look at the ACTUAL sales prices tells a very different story.
There are sellers who have these coins listed for crazy amounts of money. Often, they’re not selling them for the prices they’re listed for.
Got a rare 50p coin that you’re looking to sell? You need to verify that they’re the real thing. Then list it according to scarcity and consumer demand.
You might not find your buyer straight away. There are people who look out for certain coins, maybe to complete a collection they’ve started and need to finish. These buyers are often willing to pay higher prices for these coins.
eBay can provide a good market place for this. However, I’ve found it to be over saturated and buyers are wary of buying fakes.
If you can find a coin collector near you, they may offer you a realistic price for your coins. This depends on how valuable and rare your 50p coins really are.
If you go in armed with a little knowledge about numbers struck at the Mint, you’re less likely to get haggled down.
Frequently Asked Questions About 50p Coins
Olympic swimmer 50p original design – this 50p was redesigned before the second batch was minted, due to the design being unclear. This made the original design shoot up in value. They’re currently worth a whopping £1500 (see here for the original design)
Kew Gardens 50p – Top price at auction was £800, more realistic is £150
Football ‘offside explained’ 50p – currently worth £12
Jemima Puddle Duck – from the Beatrix Potter collection this coins worth around £12
Triathlon Olympic 50p – currently worth £11
Olympics Judo 50p – currently worth £11
Olympics wrestling 50p – currently worth £9
Olympic swimmer 50p original design – this 50p was redesigned before the second batch was minted. This was due to the design being unclear. This made the original design shoot up in value. They’re currently worth a whopping £1500 (see here for the original design)
Kew Gardens 50p – Top price at auction was £800, more realistic is £150.
Hi Steve,
If you scroll to the bottom of the post you’ll get some ideas of how to sell your 50p coins! Good Luck :)
Hi
I have quite a few 50p, and am not sure how to try and possibly sell them.
Can you advise
Thanks
Steve D