AN unearthed rare King Charles III coin could be sitting in your spare change worth thousands of pounds.
All new £1 coins are made with two metal rings but one error piece has been spotted that could be worth a fair amount.
A rare “Bee” £1 has been spotted by collectors who have[/caption]
“Bee” £1 coins were first put into general circulation in August this year with three million making their way into tills and pockets.
But an error version of the coin appears to have also entered circulation, which instead of being struck with nickel-plated brass alloy on the inner ring and nickel brass on the outer ring, is all brass.
The rare piece still comes with the King’s portrait on the front side and two bees on the reverse side, in honour of the monarch’s loves of nature.
The rare piece was highlighted on TikTok by the @coincollectingwizard, with the user saying it could be worth a fortune.
Change Checker, which writes blogs on rare coins in the UK, said it had not seen the coin previously.
However, it said a similar error coin was released in 2017 that sold for £2,375.
Other £1 error coins have been known to sell for up to £2,500.
Rachel Barnes, coin specialist at Change Checker, said the error coin released in 2017 was believed to have been struck in error when an old round pound blank was mistakenly used, or the brass outer ring did not have the middle punched out.
She added: “We could likely see the same thing here (with the bee £1 coin), which will undoubtedly make the error coin incredible sought-after.”
Rachel also said that as few of the coin have been found, if you do stumble across the error version, to make sure you get it verified by The Royal Mint, the official maker of British coins.
A spokesperson for The Royal Mint added: “The Royal Mint has tight quality controls in place and the chance of encountering any UK coin with error is exceptionally low.
“We always urge collectors to be cautious and to do their research.”
How to spot if your coin is rare
The most valuable and rare coins are usually the ones with low mintage numbers or an error.
A mintage number relates to how many of a certain coin were made, so the lower the number, the rarer and, generally, the more valuable a coin is.
Meanwhile, error coins are pieces that were incorrectly struck during the manufacturing process.
The ultra-rare “lines over face” 50p error coin is one such coin, which has been known to sell for £1,500 in the past.
Meanwhile, others with little-known designs have been known to sell for up to £3,000.
How to sell a rare coin
There are three ways you can sell rare coins – on eBay, Facebook, or in an auction.
If you’re selling on Facebook, there are risks attached.
Some sellers have previously been targeted by scammers who say they want to buy a rare note or coin and ask for money up front to pay for a courier to pick it up.
But the courier is never actually sent and you’re left out of pocket.
Rather than doing this, it’s always best to meet a Facebook seller in person when buying or selling a rare note or coin.
Ensure it’s a public meeting spot that’s in a well-lit area and if you can, avoid using payment links.
Next, you can sell at auction, which is generally the safest option.
You can organise this with The Royal Mint’s Collectors Service.
It has a team of experts who can help you authenticate and value your coin.
You can get in touch via email and a member of the valuation team will get back to you.
You will be charged for the service though – the cost varies depending on the size of your collection.
You can also sell rare coins on eBay.
But always bear in mind, you will only make what the buyer is willing to pay at that time.
You can search for the same note or coin as you have to see how much the same one has sold for on the website previously.
This can help give you an indication of how much you should sell it for.
How to spot valuable items
COMMENTS by Consumer Editor, Alice Grahns:
It’s easy to check if items in your attic are valuable.
As a first step, go on eBay to check what other similar pieces, if not the same, have sold for recently.
Simply search for your item, filter by “sold listings” and toggle by the highest value.
This will give you an idea of how much others are willing to pay for it.
The method can be used for everything ranging from rare coins and notes to stamps, old toys, books and vinyl records – just to mention a few examples.
For coins, online tools from change experts like Coin Hunter are also helpful to see how much it could be worth.
Plus, you can refer to Change Checker’s latest scarcity index update to see which coins are topping the charts.
For especially valuable items, you may want to enlist the help of experts or auction houses.
Do your research first though and be aware of any fees for evaluating your stuff.
As a rule of thumb, rarity and condition are key factors in determining the value of any item.
You’re never guaranteed to make a mint, however.
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