A 50p coin hidden in your change could be a 'true gem' thanks to key details – how to check

Today at 02:50 PM

A 50p coin could prove to be a "true gem" thanks to its key details – here's what you need to be aware of.

The loose change rattling around in your pocket could be pieced together to form the Royal Shield of Arms design but it seems many people are unaware of this.

Matthew Dent redesigned the UK's coins 16 years ago and now those designs are being replaced with the new UK coinage for King Charles III.

It was decided in 2005 that the country's coinage was due an overhaul and The Royal Mint ran a competition for the public to submit their designs for the new-look coins.

Some 4,000 designs were submitted and The Royal Mint Advisory Committee selected Matthew Dent's Royal Shield designs as the winner in 2008.

The Royal coat of arms details a shield divided into four quarters representing England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Matthew’s winning design replaced Christopher Ironside’s Britannia depiction originally on the reverse of all 50ps.

Matthew said at the time: "I felt that the solution to The Royal Mint's brief lay in a united design, united in terms of theme, execution and coverage over the surface of the coins."

Using all the coins ranging from the 1p to the 50p, they fitted together rather like a jigsaw and formed a complete shield – as could be seen on the £1 coin design issued from 2008 to 2015.

The old round pound was then replaced by the 12-sided Nations of the Crown £1 in 2017 and have now been withdrawn from circulation.

However, the definitive 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p shield coins are still in circulation, which means the Royal Shield can still be collected and completed, Change Checker says.

To help you get started you can obtain your own Royal Shield Collector Pack which comes with the Royal Shield 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 20p, so all you need to look for is the 50p in your change in order to complete it.

Then, for any completist, you could challenge yourself to collect the whole shield for every year the coins were issued, starting in 2008.

How much is the Royal Arms 50p worth?

Sellers have taken to platforms such as eBay to flog this 50p.

We saw one sell for £2.99 after piquing the interest of one bidder.

This means the coin sold for almost six times its face value.

But note, bidders can cancel purchases, meaning an item hasn’t sold for the amount it says it has.

It’s worth noting that proof versions of the 50p coin are being sold for much higher than this.

A proof coin is one that never enters circulation and is created with collectors in mind.

One proof coin on the site sold for £46, meaning the coin has made 80 times its face value.

Proof coins cannot be spent though.

Often, coins are only worth the amount someone is willing to bid – so values can change from one day to the next.

If you’re looking to buy a coin online, make sure to watch out for fakes.

It’s a good idea to browse similar items and note the price other sellers are listing them for.

If you want to check whether your change is worth a mint, you can do so with experts like The Royal Mint or Change Checker.

In some cases, extremely rare 50p pieces have sold for a whopping £950.

So it’s definitely worth a root around in your purse or wallet to see if you got anything worth potentially hundreds of pounds.

Bear in mind though, you might not always get such a hefty amount for a rare coin.

The design of the coin, its condition and whether or not the coin is in circulation also affects how much it could be worth.

You can easily figure out how rare a coin is, by checking its mintage figures.

This relates to how many coins were produced by The Royal Mint.

If a coin has a low mintage, it means there’s less in circulation and is therefore rarer and it could potentially be worth more than its face value.

Either way, you’ll want to keep an eye out for some in particular which can sell for big numbers.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

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