Posts Tagged ‘eBay’
How much is my polymer banknote really worth?
In 2016, the Bank Of England issued their first ever polymer banknotes to replace the paper £5 note with a cleaner, safer and stronger alternative.
Collecting banknotes is a serious hobby that many thousands of people all over the world enjoy, and so it’s no surprise that when these new notes were released, collectors were eager to start building their collection.
With so many stories in the press and listings on eBay claiming certain notes were worth way over face value, it’s easy to see how the nation got swept away with the idea of their new polymer banknote being worth thousands of pounds.
So now, three years on, and with the release of a second polymer note, as well as plans for the new polymer £20 and £50 notes, how much are your polymer banknotes really worth?
‘Rare’ polymer banknotes
AA01
In the early days following the release of the new notes, I’m willing to bet that every single person in the country checked theirs at some point to see if they were lucky enough to find one with the prefix AA01.
The annual Bank Of England charity auction held at Spink and Son Ltd in London auctioned off a polymer £5 note with the serial number AA01 000017 for £4,150, however the following year, a Jane Austen Polymer £10 note with the serial number AA01 000010 sold for a staggering £7,200 – over double the guide price!
Whilst these first run banknotes may be desirable to some collectors, we must remember that 1 million AA01 banknotes were actually printed for each denomination.
They aren’t likely to fetch much more than face value, and our latest eBay Tracker suggests that prices for AA01 banknotes are actually going down, with the previous figure for AA01 £5 notes dropping by £4.50 to £10.
The story is much the same with AA01 £10 notes, which were initially selling on eBay for between £40 and £70, but have now dropped considerably – from £18 last June to £15 in January 2019 (as taken from our eBay Tracker).
AK47
Considered collectable due to the machine gun connotations, polymer notes with the prefix AK47 were thought to be worth tens of thousands of pounds following the new £5 release in 2016.
This idea emerged after a £5 banknote with the prefix AK47 fetched a winning bid of £80,100 on eBay. Whilst the seller must have been overjoyed with the jackpot amount, it actually turned out the buyer had no intention of paying up.
As exciting as a novelty serial number may be, there’s no way we could imagine paying anywhere near £80,000 for it! Could you?
A quick look at the most recent eBay sold prices for this serial number now show that people are willing to spend around £7.50 to get their hands on this note now, which we think is far more reasonable!
Whilst the same excitement picked up again following the polymer £10 launch in 2017, with some collectors paying between £20 and £40 for an AK47 £10 note, prices have again come down to a much more reasonable level, with AK47 £10 banknotes selling for around £15 on eBay now.
Sold listing on eBay for an AA01 £10 banknote in 2019
James Bond theme
Another novelty serial number collectors were searching for was the 007 James Bond theme.
This banknote, described as an “AK37 007 James Bond Bank of England Polymer £5 note” in a lovely condition, sold for £5,000 back in 2016.
Although there must be plenty of James Bond fanatics out there, we can think of so many other items of James Bond memorabilia that fans could spend £5,000 on!
Whilst some chancers are still listing notes with 007 in the serial number for exaggerated prices on eBay, the sold listings reflect the fact that buyers just aren’t interested now that the hype has faded, with very few sold listings of the 007 £5 note and none of the 007 £10 note.
Key Jane Austen dates
In 2017, a polymer £10 note with serial number AH17 75 (the year of Jane Austen’s birth) sold on eBay for a whopping £3,600 – 360 times face value!
Key serial numbers collectors would be interested in include 16 121775 and 18 071817 which would represent the author’s date of birth and death respectively. Serial number 17 751817 would be her birth and death year combined.
Considering all the possible prefix variations that could accompany these serial numbers, there would be just 676 notes issued for each of the key dates mentioned above, from prefix AA through to ZZ.
Whilst these might become more popular with collectors in future, the initial excitement has now died down, with hardly any genuine Jane Austen birth or death date banknotes listed for sale on eBay anymore.
Genuine Rarities!
Jane Austen micro-engraving
In December 2016, specialist micro-engraver Graham Short came up with the idea of engraving a 5mm portrait of Jane Austen on the transparent part of the new plastic £5 notes.
He included a different quote around each one, ensuring that each note was unique.
According to Gallery owner Mr Huggins-Haig, artist Graham Short’s work has an insurance valuation of £50,000!
The first of four notes featuring art by specialist micro-engraver Graham Short was found in a cafe in South Wales, whilst another was found inside a Christmas card in Scotland. The third £5 note was found by a mystery old lady in Eniskillen in Northern Ireland who donated it to charity.
So that means there is just one more rare £5 note left to find with the handiwork of Birmingham micro-artist Graham Short…
For those of you hunting down the last remaining fiver, the serial number to look out for is AM 32 885554.
Harry Kane micro-engraving
As football fever hit the nation in the summer of 2018, Graham Short was at it once again, creating six unique £5 notes, each engraved with a tiny portrait of footballer Harry Kane with the inscription ‘World Cup Golden Boot Winner 2018’.
Two of the notes were given away – one to Harry Kane himself and the other to the FA – but the remaining four notes were distributed around the county and each note is insured for £50,000, so anyone lucky enough to get their hands on one can expect that sum if they auction off the fiver!
As of yet, we haven’t heard of these notes being found, so keep checking your £5 notes for the portrait of Harry Kane and look out for these serial numbers:
Serious Collectors: What to look for…
Generally, collecting banknotes is not about the serial number it possesses, but instead the chief cashier is of most interest, particularly on UK banknotes.
This is where real rarities can be found – in the form of Chief Cashier signatures.
Banknote designs rarely change but on average cashiers change every 5 or 6 years with some in the position for as little as 3 years.
So if you are genuinely interested in collecting banknotes, the chief cashier is what you should really be looking for.
What about the £20 and £50 polymer notes?
The Bank Of England will be issuing a new polymer £20 note featuring
artist JMW Turner in 2020 and also plan to issue a £50 polymer note after this.
The £50 will feature someone who has contributed to science and the chosen person will be announced in summer 2019.
Are you a banknote collector and if so, which notes do you have in your collection? Let us know in the comments below!
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app
January 2019 eBay Tracker Update
Buying and selling coins on the secondary market can be a bit of a minefield and excessive coin prices on eBay can leave collectors confused as to how much these sought-after coins are really selling for.
So we’ve simplified the process for you by sharing our UPDATED Change Checker eBay Tracker and Valuation Index for the Top 9 coins and banknotes …
Valuation Index
Find out which coins and notes have been the key movers and shakers in the updated eBay Tracker below.
There has been an overall increase in the price of our Top 9 most sought-after coins and notes, with the most notable increase going to the Jemima Puddle Duck 50p, which has jumped from an average sold price of £5.50 in June to £11.00 in January!
After dropping 19% last year, the Olympic Football 50p has now rocketed up by 29% and is also currently selling at £11.00. The Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 and the Undated 20p have also seen improvement since June, with the £2 increasing by 20% to a phenomenal £31.00 and the 20p now selling for £50.00 on average.
Of course the highest selling coin of our Top 9 is the highly sought-after Kew Gardens 50p. This coin remains king, selling for an incredible £97.00, which is a 20% increase on June’s figures. There has been a lot of excitement regarding the 2019 re-issued Kew Gardens 50p coin which has led to increased press coverage of this coin, which could be a factor in the higher prices people are willing to pay to get hold of one for their collection.
Kew Gardens 50p still selling for £97.00
You’ll notice with this update that the Inverted Effigy £2 has been removed and this is due to the fact that the rarity of this coin means very few are available and the prices are volatile. This combined with the fact that we have not been able to find 9 of these coins sold in a qualifying period means that it has been removed and replaced with the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p.
Could this newcomer be the rarest coin on the eBay Tracker?
This newcomer to the eBay Tracker was only available at The Royal Mint Experience as a Strike Your Own Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin and the mintage figures are unknown, but due to the short time frame and visitor numbers, there could well be substantially less than 210,000 of these coins struck, meaning the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin could very possibly have a lower mintage figure than even the Kew Gardens 50p! And this is certainly reflected in the price people are willing to pay for the coin, with an average sold price of £59.00.
2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p selling for £59.00
Whilst the average sold price for the 92/93 EEC 50p remains unchanged at £56.00, the 2015 Britannia is the only coin in our Top 10 to have decreased in value since June, with a decrease of 20% meaning the average sold price is now £4.00.
Both banknotes in our Top 10 have also taken a hit, with the AA01 Polymer £5 slipping from £14.50 to £10.00 and the AA01 Polymer £10.00 from £18.00 to £15.00. However we must remember that this is still double the face value of the £5 note and 1.5X face value for the £10, which certainly isn’t a bad profit to be made!
So now that you’re up to date with our latest eBay Tracker, will you be selling any of the coins in your collection or will you continue to save them? Let us know in the comments below.
How does the eBay Tracker work?
The Change Checker eBay Tracker takes the last 9 sold prices achieved on eBay and gives the median price achieved (rounded to the nearest 50p). By taking the median, rather than an average, we avoid skewing created by one or two excessive prices achieved.
Please note that the Change Checker eBay Tracker is only ever designed to be a guide as to prices achieved on eBay. Prices may vary depending on collector demand and the quality of the coin being sold. It does not provide any guarantee as to future values of coins.
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app
How much is your coin really worth? Debunking eBay coin price myths…
When it comes to coin collecting, whilst the thrill is in the find, it really is the icing on the cake when you manage to find a particularly rare coin which is worth more than its face value. However, all too often we are bombarded by press articles citing eBay listings of ‘rare’ or ‘error’ coins and, naturally, our interest is piqued when we hear about the coin we’ve just come across in our change ‘selling for thousands’.
Unfortunately though, these articles can often sensationalise the actual value of the coin and when taken out of context, it’s easy to forget that anyone can list anything they like on eBay, for whatever price they choose – regardless of whether or not the item is genuinely worth it.
So to help you avoid the pitfalls of buying coins on eBay, we’ve created our top 5 eBay buying tips at the bottom of this blog.
When a coin is listed for excessive amounts it draws attention to itself and all it takes is for the press to pick up on it for more people to start believing that the coin really is valuable and so the story grows. But in reality, these coins are not usually worth the price they are listed for and are very unlikely to actually sell. Even if the coin does sell at that price, there is no guarantee that the sale will actually go through.
How much is my Benjamin Britten 50p worth?
We’ve seen this time and again, particularly for the 2013 Benjamin Britten 50p. In fact one of the most regular questions we get at Change Checker is: “I have a Benjamin Britten 50p – how much is it worth?“.
There’s no doubt that the Benjamin Britten 50p was somewhat overlooked when it was first released and it is amongst the slightly more scarce coins in circulation, but ask yourself this… would you pay £800 for one?
Whilst a brilliant uncirculated quality Benjamin Britten 50p might sell for around £10, you’re likely to come across a circulation quality coin in your change, as this 50p has a mintage figure of 5,300,000 and is ranked as common on our scarcity index.
Read our blog ‘So i thought my coin was worth £800…’ for more information.
But it’s not just Benjamin Britten – there are others… including the 2005 Gunpowder Plot ‘Pemember’ £2 and the 2012 Charles Dickens ‘error coin’, as well as the new coin releases such as the leaked Paddington 50p…
Gunpowder Plot £2 ‘error’
The 2005 Gunpowder Plot £2 commemorates the 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ failed assassination attempt on King James I, but the coin is more familiar to collectors for having a spelling mistake in the edge inscription. The timeless quote “Remember, remember the fifth of November” has been found with various combinations of Pemember, Pemembep, Novemebep and so on. The common factor here is the ‘R’ which appears as a ‘P’.
Sadly for collectors this is apparently not a striking error. The explanation from the Royal Mint is that the down-stroke of the R coincides with the milling around the edge, and as the coin has worn over time, the letter has become less defined. This categorical statement from the Mint means that any mark-up in price for a supposed ‘error’ is completely unjustified, and although it makes the coin more interesting, it is not the mistake which it is often perceived to be.
Charles Dickens £2 ‘error’
The Charles Dickens £2 coin was issued by The Royal Mint in 2012 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of one of Britain’s most famous and beloved writers. The design features Dickens’ recognisable profile crafted from the titles of his most famous works and is a favourite amongst collectors.
But recently, a number of stories have been popping up regarding the ‘errors’ people have noticed, such as fading dots around the centre part, upside down edge lettering and misspelling of the edge inscription. Unfortunately these aren’t errors, but are simply caused by the mass production process, the way obverses and reverses are struck and how the coin has worn down in circulation.
Paddington 50p leaked coins
The Paddington 50p coins were issued by The Royal Mint to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Michael Bond’s novel, “A Bear Called Paddington” and were some of the most sought-after coins of 2018, which is why collectors were particularly excited when some of the coins were discovered a few days before the official release…
The coins quickly made their way onto collectors’ forums and eBay, with one attracting a “sold price” of £16,000 – prompting interest from a number of national newspapers.
It’s highly unlikely that the transaction actually went through, and as the official launch date was just a few days later, we urged collectors to wait to be able to purchase the coin for just £3.99 instead.
We would always suggest caution and user discretion when buying and selling on eBay. To get a more realistic idea of what your coin could potentially sell for, view the ‘sold listings’ on eBay to see the actual prices buyers have been willing to pay, although again there is still no guarantee that these sales have all actually gone through.
Remember – even the rarest of all circulating 50p coins – 1992/93 EU Presidency – was sold by Change Checker for just £20.
So to help you get the most out of your money, we’ve created 5 eBay buying tips:
Tip 1) Check recently sold prices
Whilst coins can be listed on eBay for incredibly high prices, it doesn’t mean they will actually sell at this price. Make sure you search for ‘sold listings’ when researching how much buyers are currently willing to pay to check that your coin is in line with this.
Tip 2) Check if it can still be bought from official Royal Mint distributors
Take a look online at The Royal Mint’s website and on our site to see if the coin can still be bought from an official distributor, as this will affect the price of the coin on the secondary market. Buyers will be willing to pay more for a coin on the secondary market if it is no longer on sale at The Royal Mint.
Tip 3) Check if the coin is real or fake
The only way to know for certain that a coin is real is for it to be x-rayed, however there are some simple checks you can make yourself such as making sure the edge inscription and date matches the design and that the coin condition reflects the amount of time it’s been in circulation. For example, the Kew Gardens 50p has been in circulation for nearly 10 years, so a shiny Kew for sale on eBay is likely to be a fake unless it’s in the original packaging.
Tip 4) Check the coins rarity
Use our mintage charts and Scarcity Index to see how scarce the coin is and check our blogs to see if it has an interesting story that makes the coin more sought-after. Make sure you check for any errors that could add to the coins value, such as the wrong date or metal being used.
Tip 5) Check the coins condition
If the coin is in Brilliant Uncirculated quality it will most likely sell for more than a circulated coin which is more worn. Typically, the more worn the coin is, the less a buyer is likely to be willing to pay.
Remember you can also use our 6 point guide to valuing your coins to help you determine how much your coin might realistically be worth.
Best of luck buying and selling your coins!
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app