eBay: ‘Rare’ Beatrix Potter 50p coin selling for £1325 – is this actually a bargain?

The bidding site, eBay, is full of great deals waiting to be had and many will look there to find unique items. Commemorative coins are very interesting to many and there are plenty on offer on the bidding site. One of these listing is a 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p coin, although the asking price might seem expensive to some. The coin was listed for much more than face value at £1325, but could this actually be a bargain?

The eBay user, “dyrene.123” shared the listing along with one picture of the fifty pence piece.

They wrote: “Rare 2017 Beatrix Potter Benjamin Bunny 50p coin free UK and international postage.”

In the description, the seller said postage was free and it would be delivered by first class large letter.

Although the coin may seem pricey, the seller insisted it was rare which could account for this.

However, it may not be a valuable as the listing suggests and coin collectors should beware.

The coin on offer is from the 2017 batch of Beatrix Potter commemorative coins.

These were first released in 2016 to mark the 150th anniversary of the author’s birth and they proved so popular new ones have been brought out each year since.

According to experts at the coin publication Spend It? Save It? What Should You Do? the coin has a mintage of 11,300,000.

Not only does it appear to be fairly common, the publication gave it a valuation of £4 – a far cry from the asking price online.

The coin website, Change Checker, insisted the coin was even more common and gave it a mintage of 25,000,000.

The fifty pence is ranked as one on the Scarcity Index, which classifies it as common.

On top of this, the coin can be bought on the Westminster Collection website for just £3.99.

Those hoping to get their hands on the coin could save money by having a quick search online.

Recently, a 2018 Representation of the People Act 50p was advertised for £5000, despite having a valuation of £3.

A Peter Rabbit 50p was selling for £2100 but had a valuation of just £4. 

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.