eBay: ‘Rare’ 50p coin selling for £638 – but collectors are being urged to watch out

Coin collecting is a hobby for many people. While some may simply try their hardest to hang on to particular designs, others are willing to shell out a huge amount of money on very rare items. And, it seems that eBay is a place which many head to in order to browse a wide variety of coins. Today, a 50p coin was spotted on the site with a starting price of £638.

This is a copy of the 2016 Battle of Hastings 1066 coin, and was called “rare” by the eBay user “kobieta20”.

The seller posted photos of the coin, and said that they would dispatch the item as a first class large letter.

On top of the selling price, the buyer would have to pay £1.50 for standard delivery.

So, why does the seller consider this coin to be so rare?

The exact answer is not known, but there is plenty of information of this coin design available.

The Royal Mint have not confirmed the mintage of this coin.

John Bergdahl is the designer for the reverse of this coin, which commemorates the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

The website Change Checker placed this 2016 coin at one on its scarcity index, meaning it ranks as common.

The publication Spend it? Save it? What should you do? has estimated that this coin has a mintage of 6,100,000.

It’s also suggest that the value of this coin stands at £2.

When buying a coin for a substantial amount of money, it could be a good idea to do your research, and seek advice on the item.

The coin guide, written by Phil Mussell and the production team at Coin News Magazine have issued a warning about buying coins online.

They explain that it’s up to the seller as to how much they list the coin for, and these huge selling prices can make other listings look cheaper than they otherwise would.

But, these coins may still be up for sale for far more than they’re worth – but in contrast, seem like a bargain.

“So remember,” the warning reads. “Just because a coin is listed at a certain price that doesn’t mean it is worth it and just because something seems to have sold for a certain amount that doesn’t meant it actually did.”

This coin was spotted shortly after the listing of another Battle of Hastings coin came to light – with the seller of this item hoping to scoop at least £2,000 for the coin.

Which are the rarest £1, £2, 50p, 20p, 10p and 2p coins?

Rarest £2 coins

The rarest £2 coin is the 2002 Commonwealth Games NI coin with 485,500 in circulation. This is followed by the 2002 Commonwealth Games Wales which has 588,500 in circulation.

Next up is the 2015 Navy, and there are 650,000 in circulation.

Rarest £1 coins

The most rare £1 coins are all part of a series celebrating the British capitals.

The rarest of these is the 2011 Edinburgh coin, with 935,000 in circulation. Of the 2011 Cardiff coins there are 1,615,000 in circulation, while the 2010 London coin has 2,635,000 in circulation.

Rarest 50p coin

The rarest 50p coin is the Kew Gardens coin, which is also the rarest coin in circulation. It there were only 210,000 minted.

The football Olympic 50p coin has 1,125,500 in circulation, and the wrestling coin has 1,129,500 in circulation.

It is not so easy to evaluate the rarest 20p coins, 10p coins and even 2p coins as exact circulation figures are not known.

However, various versions of the coins are known to sell for large sums.

These include the dateless 20ps, which are actually part of a run from 2008. There may be between 50,000 and 200,000 of these coins in circulation.

The 1983 ‘New Pence’ 2p coin can also sell for a huge sum, up to £650.