Posts Tagged ‘scarce’
The UK’s brand new £5 coin is the rarest of them all!
Earlier this year, The Royal Mint released a brand new UK £5 coin that celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts.
The coin is available as a Silver Proof UK coin as standard, but The Royal Mint have also made another version. This version has been struck to base metal specifications and has initially been made exclusive to Change Checkers.
This brand new coin has been struck to base metal specifications and has initially been made exclusive to Change Checkers.
The reverse of this £5 has been designed by architect Sir David Chipperfield RA, and features the mid-19th century frontage of the famous Burlington House of the Royal Academy, with ornate sculptures on the roof.
What’s more, a mintage of just 12,000 has been set, making this the rarest base metal UK £5 coin ever!
The 2018 Royal Academy of Arts £5 coin becomes the rarest £5, ahead of the 2014 Queen Anne and 2011 Prince Philip £5 coins in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.
The other £5 coins that make up the top 3 are The Queen Anne £5 coin that commemorates the 300th Anniversary of the death of Queen Anne – the first queen of Great Britain who left behind political stability and prosperity. Just 12,181 of these coins were struck in Brilliant Uncirculated presentation packs which made it the rarest UK £5 coin ever…until now!
The Prince Philip £5 coin, the third rarest with a mintage of 18,730, is extremely sought after by collectors and is virtually impossible to get hold of on the secondary market. In fact, sold listings on eBay show that the Prince Philip £5 coin regularly fetches in excess of £50!
Remember, when it comes to collecting, there is one fact which is always inevitable –the rarest coins are always in highest demand.
The Royal Academy of Arts
Founded through a personal act of King George III on 10 December 1768, The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London.
It has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects; its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London.
The Royal Academy does not receive financial support from the state or the Crown. Its income is from exhibitions, trust and endowment funds, receipts from its trading activities, and from the subscriptions of its Friends and corporate members.
It also gains funds by sponsorship from commercial and industrial companies, in which the Academy was one of the pioneers.
2018 UK Royal Academy of Arts BU £5
This brand new £5 has been struck to a Brilliant Uncirculated quality and has initially been made exclusively available to Change Checkers.
What’s more, an edition limit of just 12,000 has been set, making this the rarest base metal UK £5 coin ever!
How much is my coin worth? – A five point guide.
How much is my coin worth? It’s a question I’m asked multiple times each day, and with some coins selling for many times their face value, I understand why you’d be keen to know.
The truth is, it’s very hard to tell you exactly what your coin is worth as it depends on so many variants. Coins are no different to any other kind of collectible in many ways; there are certain criteria which you should always look out for, which can help you to determine how collectible or valuable your coin is.
Often it’s a very difficult question to answer but with a little bit of detective work you should be able to work out an accurate value for your coin. I’ve put together some useful tips, in our 5 point guide below, to get you started:
1. Change Checker Scarcity Index
The first place to start is our Change Checker Scarcity Index. I believe this to be the single most accurate way of determining how scarce your coins are. Whilst it doesn’t give you an actual value we know that the value of a coin is directly linked to scarcity.
The Change Checker Scarcity Index is a very useful tool to help value your coin
Historically, when trying to determine the scarcity of a coin, the mintage figure was considered the most accurate indicator. Whilst the mintage figures are undoubtedly important, our Scarcity Index also takes into consideration some very useful data from our Change Checker web app.
We combine the mintage information with two other key pieces of information:
- How many of each design are listed as “collected” by Change Checkers, indicating the relative ease of finding a particular coin.
- The number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous 3 months, showing the current level of collector demand.
It’s very simple to work out how scarce your coin is, each coin is given a score out of 100, the higher the score the more scarce that coin is.
2. eBay is best
Once you’ve determined the scarcity of your coin the next step would be to take a look at what has recently sold on eBay. It’s very important that you make sure you look at ‘recently sold’ coins and not just those that have been listed. Essentially, anybody can list a coin on eBay and charge whatever amount they wish.
By checking the recently sold items (and I’d suggest you look at the previous 3-5 coins sold) you will get an accurate indication of what people are willing to pay for a particular coin.
Make sure you look the ‘Sold Listings’ on eBay to check the price people are paying for coins.
Also, if you are looking to sell any coins in your collection, I’d definitely recommend eBay as the easiest, and importantly, the most secure platform to do this.
3. Are your coins still available to buy in BU quality?
Next, it’s worth checking if the coin in your collection is still available to purchase in superior Brilliant Uncirculated quality from an official Royal Mint distributor. If it is still for sale, it’s unlikely that people would purchase a circulation quality coin for the same price.
If Brilliant Uncirculated coins are still available to purchase, it’s unlikely people will buy a circulation quality coin.
If there are no longer any BU coins available to buy, this will work in your favour as collectors will then look for circulation quality coins to add to their collections.
4. Coin condition
It’s definitely worth checking the condition of your coin as this will, almost always, have an effect on the value. It’s no surprise that collectors favour the more pristine coins to those that are showing signs of wear and tear due to circulation.
The condition of your coin will likely affect its value.
However, your coin’s condition is not the be all and end all; it’s very rare to find a circulation 2002 Commonwealth Games £2 coin in good condition yet these sell for many times their face value.
5. Is there a story?
This can often tie-in with rarity, as the coins with a good story behind them tend to be the ones which are difficult to get your hands on! The “undated 20p” is a recent example of a such a coin. It is known as a ‘mule’ – a coin with a mismatched obverse and reverse (heads and tails). The name derives from a mule being the hybrid offspring of a horse and donkey.
The ‘undated 20p’ generated a huge amount of media coverage resulting in coins selling for many times their face value.
In 2008 when the reverse of the 20p coin changed to the new Royal Shield design, approximately 100,000 coins were accidentally struck with the previous obverse die and therefore there was no date on the coin.
In a similar way to the Kew Gardens story, some of the prices being quoted as a result of media coverage were extraordinary. Mules are highly sought after by collectors, and an undated 20p will certainly be worth more than its face value in years to come.
It’s always good to remember that if your coin is legal tender, it will always be worth at least its face value.The good news…
That’s why I think change collecting is the best hobby you could have!
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
Is this a new £1 minting ‘error’?!
Last year we reported on the ‘Dual-dated £1 coin error’ where the dates on the obverse and reverse were different, one reading 2016 and the other 2017.
Now another £1 coin ‘error’ has been discovered and this one is very interesting indeed! It would appear that a 12-sided £1 coin die has been struck on an old round £1 coin blank.
The latest £1 ‘error’ coin appears to be a 12-sided £1 die struck on an old round £1 coin base. (Image: Zeki Atma)
In the past week alone, we’ve seen 3 examples of this ‘error’ coin.
The first was from a Change Checker from Burnham-on-Sea who told us that they’d listed the coin on eBay. After receiving 22 bids, the coin sold for £205!
One of the first examples of this ‘error’ coin has sold for £205 on eBay!
Another coin is being sold at an auction in London on Wednesday 21st February. The auctioneers, ‘Timeline’, who are based in Berkeley Square, describe the coin as an “exceptional modern rarity” and go on to say “…the coin is sure to attract much attention when it crosses the block later this year”.
Another example of this latest ‘error’ will be available to purchase at auction on the 21st February. (Image: Coin news)
The third report we have received was this morning from another Change Checker. Our advice to anybody who believes they have found this coin, or any other ‘error’ coins, would be to send the coin off to The Royal Mint Museum who offer a free verification service.
They will send the coin back to you with confirmation of their findings, which can take a few weeks depending on demand for the service. Here is the address:
Dr Kevin Clancy, Director of the Museum, The Royal Mint Museum, Llantrisant, Pontyclun, CF72 8YT
As yet, we have not seen proof that these coins have been verified by The Mint, so whilst they look genuine we will keep an open mind for the time being.
As usual, if you think you have found one of these coins or any other interesting ‘errors’, we’d love to hear from you.