Could your Peter Rabbit 50p be worth £25,000!?
A 2017 Peter Rabbit 50p hit the headlines recently as it had been listed on eBay for a whopping £25,000! Why, I hear you ask? Well this particular coin had an interesting additional feature…
Image Credit: eBay
The 2017 Peter Rabbit 50p has a circulating mintage of 19,900,000, making it one of the more common 50p designs in circulation. Usually a coin with this mintage wouldn’t fetch more than a few pounds on the secondary market, however one eagle-eyed collector noticed something unusual about theirs, can you spot it?
Something strange is afoot
If you clocked the extra lump under Peter’s front foot, then well done, because you’ve spotted something many haven’t noticed before. One collector from Dereham picked up this feature on their 2017 Peter Rabbit 50p and headed to eBay to list the coin for over £25,000 due to the ‘error’.
The listing stated that ‘There is a lump of metal attached to the foot as seen in the photo.‘ and that the seller believed this to be an error as they hadn’t seen anything similar online before.
Not the only one
A quick look on eBay shows several other listings for 2017 Peter Rabbit 50ps for similar amounts that also seem to have the ‘lump’ on Peter’s foot, meaning it isn’t a one-off.
Image Credit: eBay
Image Credit: eBay
The lump is most likely due to a cracked die being used during the striking process, causing the metal to pool. Other listings for the coin featuring this ‘error’ show different size ‘lumps’ under the foot, probably having been struck at different stages of die deterioration.
2015 First World War Navy £2 with ‘flag error’
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a cracked die cause an error on a circulating coin. The 2015 First World War Navy £2 made waves when collectors started to notice that some versions of the coin looked to have a flying flag atop the mast of the ship.
A number of people wondered whether there were two different designs of the Navy £2, however it was later confirmed that the extra ‘flag’ was caused by a cracked die during minting.
Image credit: @coinpatrol on YouTube
You can check out our Myths and Mis strikes blog for more information on common errors to look out for.
So how much is a 2017 Peter Rabbit 50p with the lump worth?
It’s not known exactly how many 2017 Peter Rabbit 50ps have this ‘error’, so we can’t be sure how rare it truly is, however if you do have one in your collection, it could be considerably more sought-after than the original version.
Despite sellers listing these coins on eBay for ludicrous amounts, it’s worth remembering that these aren’t sold listings, and so no sale has actually gone through. It’s important to check ‘Sold listings’ on auction sites rather than active listings, as the price a coin is listed for may not be the actual price it sells for.
It’s worth remembering that your coin is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and there are several factors that can affect this. To get a better idea of how much your coin may be worth, check out our 6 Point Guide to Valuing Your Coins.
Secure one for your collection
If you’re missing the 2017 Peter Rabbit 50p from your collection, you can secure it in circulation quality for just £3.50 POSTFREE >>
Who knows, yours might even have the ‘error’!