Posts Tagged ‘changechecker’
Why we wouldn’t pay £120 (or even £24 for that matter) for the Kew Gardens 50p
How much is it worth to you?
After revealing some months ago that the Kew Gardens 50p is the rarest of all the 50p coins currently in circulation, the Royal Mint has successfully pushed the story out into the national press.
The resultant hype has seen prices sky-rocket. The Guardian initially reported prices being paid of £24 for the coin but before long the Daily Mirror and other news sources were quoting prices of £120 from e-Bay.
Incredibly, as we write, an original Brilliant Uncirculated version in a Royal Mint presentation pack (not actually one of the coins that went into circulation) is currently listed with bids of £310 on e-Bay.
But let’s step back from the hype for a minute and consider the facts:
- Yes, with just 210,000 pieces ever released into circulation this is a very scarce coin.
One listing on eBay has reached an unbelievable £310.
- That does mean that there is only one coin for every 300 people in the UK.
- Collectors will have taken some out of circulation.
But most of the coins will still be in circulation and remain so for many years.
25% of Change Checkers own the Kew Gardens 50p
In fact if you keep your eyes peeled as a Change Checker, you’ve still got fair chance of owning one. Amongst 50p Change Checkers about a quarter have Kew Gardens listed in their collection and we’re sure they haven’t all paid £120 for their coins.
So what to do if you’re impatient to own one. Well don’t panic and pay today’s prices, which are hugely inflated by the media hype. Bide your time a little and look around.
And, in case you really want one now, we’ve got 5 in stock, which we’re selling for only £17.50 each. If you’re interested just fill in the form below.
So there are two morals to the Kew Gardens story:
- You never know what treasure’s in your pocket
- Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.
Happy Change Checking.
Read about the 50p coin that is even rarer than Kew Gardens
Register your interest in a Kew Gardens 50p for £17.50
Enter your name and contact details below before 28th February to register your interest in one of five Kew Gardens 50ps we have available. If we receive more than five enquiries before the closing date we will draw five people at random and contact them directly with further details.
Sorry now closed
Why you should be Checking your Change
I expect that, like me, you were brought up to “check your change”. But it has never meant more than now.
Last year, the Royal Mint launched twenty-nine 50p coins into circulation, one for each of the Olympic disciplines. The result: a nation suddenly keen to check the coins in their pocket, hoping to build a complete collection.
In 20 years in the coin business, it was the very first time I had seen people of all ages genuinely interested by the coins in their change.
But the story should not stop with the Olympic 50p coins.
In fact the Royal Mint has been varying £1 coin designs since the coin was very first issued 30 years ago. Remarkably the 50p first saw a commemorative design in 1973, before they became a regular feature of the UK’s coinage during the 1990s. Similarly, £2 coins were used for commemorative coins as early as 1986, well before the current bi-metallic coin, which went into circulation in 1997, with its first commemorative design being released in 1999 for the Rugby World Cup.
The only collection that will cost you nothing
Of course the joy of change collecting is that it is totally free. Simply keep an eye on the coins in your change and very quickly you’ll own an historic collection of some the UK’s finest coin designs.
But now it is even easier to collect the coins in your pocket with the launch of www.changechecker.org. This completely FREE site is available for mobiles, tablets and PC to help you collect your pocket change wherever you are.
Simply identify your coin by denomination and year to keep track of whether you already own it or not. Plus, if it’s a spare, you can quickly and easily find someone to swap your coin with. All without spending a penny (or any other denomination come to that).
Click here to visit www.changechecker.org.
Discover more about Change Checker with your 90 second guide.