CHECK YOUR CHANGE
Most valuable and rarest 50p coins – do you have one worth £840 in your spare change
Coins towards the top of the scarcity index can sell for approximately 10 to 12 times their face value
DO you have a 50p coin in your purse or wallet? If the answer's yes, dig it out because it could be worth a small fortune.
While the most sought-after 50p - the Kew Gardens design - is worth up to £155 on eBay, other rare 50p coins usually achieve a premium of around 10 to 12 times face value, or about £5 to £6, when they are sold.
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In general, the rarer the coin the more valuable it is, and experts at Changechecker.org have created a scarcity index that tracks which circulating 50p coins are the most scarce and collectable.
The Kew Gardens 50p tops the scarcity index list of the coins currently in circulation, with a mintage (the number of coins issued) of just 210,000, it is the rarest coin and is the most in demand.
Changechecker estimates that you can sell the coin for up to £100 on eBay, but a quick check on the online auction site shows a recently sold Kew Gardens 50p coins actually fetched as much as £155.
We also found some that sold for £19 or more than 38 times their value.
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One lucky eBay user also managed to sell his battle of Hastings 50p coin for £240.
The next nine scarcest coins are all from the 2012 Olympics.
Football, Triathlon, Wrestling, Judo will fetch between £8 and £19 on eBay or up to £36 for a set of four.
New coins that could be worth a mint too
Today, the Royal Mint has re-released sets of five of the rarest and most popular 50ps to celebrate half a decade of the coin.
The new coins are made with old designs including Kew Gardens, Girl Guides and Scouts, but are stamped with the 2009 date which could make them super valuable among collectors.
The £90 proof sets sold out last month but now you can get uncirculated sets for £45 directly from the Royal Mint, which went on sale at midnight.
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How much are other 50p coins worth?
Another 2012 Olympic commemorative coin, the Tennis 50p is the sixth rarest currently in circulation. An individual coin could be worth up to £5.50 online or 10 times its face value.
While the 2012 Olympics Goalball 50p, with some also fetching up to £3.50.
Again it could be worth much more when sold on eBay as part of a collection.
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Other coins sought after by collectors include the Beatrix Potter 50p coins, the original 2016 Peter Rabbit coin can sell for up to £840 on the auction website.
While the Jemima Puddle duck 50p recently sold for £39.
The Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin, which was introduced into circulation last year, is also valuable to collectors due to the small number released into circulation this year.
Many sellers on eBay have listed the coin for thousands of pounds - but £120 is the highest sold price for the 50p so far.
MORE MONEY
What do you do if you've got a rare coin?
FIRSTLY, you need to make sure the coin is legit and not counterfeit.
Around one in every four old £1 coins were thought to be fake, according to The Royal Mint, so there are probably more fakers in your spare change then you realise.
The Royal Mint is unable to value a coin but it can confirm whether it is real or not. They will usually supply you with a letter to confirm this.
Once you’ve found out whether the coin is real or not, you have a number of options – either selling it through a coin dealer, at auction or on eBay.
What makes a coin more valuable?
Generally, collectors look at the mintage figures of a coin to assess its value, but rather than just basing a coin's value on this, Changechecker has looked at two other key pieces of information.
This includes how many of each coin are listed as "collected" by members of the site, which indicates the relative ease of finding a particular coin.
The experts also looked at the number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous three months, showing the current level of collector demand.
While the index doesn't necessarily correspond to value, it is an effective indicator.
The Sun has published a £1 scarcity index, so you can find out the value of each of the 24 £1 coin designs.
We have also previously shown you which error coins can bag you the most dosh, including the 2012 London Olympics Aquatics 50p coin which could fetch more than £1,000.
So far this year, the Royal Mint has also launched a new Peter Rabbit coin which could be worth £840, while a new Gruffalo coin also launched in March.
Stephen Hawking fans have also been scrabbling to get their hands on a 50p coin celebrating his scientific work a year on from his death.
Royal Mint sparks coin hunt with 26 new 10p coins including 'ice-cream' and 'queuing'
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