Is there a £3000 coin in your pocket?

[Sunnyboy7 1]

Tried to track down the London Olympics 50p coin but havent been lucky enough. Interesting about the mint mistake coins and their worth.

Interesting article: http://www.ukauctionnews.com/is-there-a-3000-coin-in-your-pocket/

[Rob 2,996]

Typical press article. If it was in your pocket it would be unlikely to retain its value, as it would wear progressively with time. Any £3K coin would likely be sat in a cabinet with the owner fully aware of what he/she has.

[scott 129]

or on ebay with every other commemorative circulation coin

[Peter 615]

i paid 50p for my BU Kew gardens 50p

Like the dateless 20p coins at one time were £300 and now £30 to mugs.

i love the Daily Mail

[azda 973]

Tried to track down the London Olympics 50p coin but havent been lucky enough. Interesting about the mint mistake coins and their worth.

Interesting article: http://www.ukauctionnews.com/is-there-a-3000-coin-in-your-pocket/

The funny thing is I've never seen one sell for 3k, so where did the price tag come from for the swimmer. The owner of this forum sold one last year and it made £900, so don't believe all tabloid propaganda. The dateless 20p is another that is selling at between £30 and £40 depending on grade, so ask yourself where they get those prices from Edited May 27, 2015 by azda

[TomGoodheart 373]

Welcome Sunnyboy! As people have said, modern errors tend to catch peoples' imaginations and then prices eventually settle down when collectors get a better idea of how many examples really are available.

And of course, unless a coin is unique (and no modern issues are) collectors want the coin in the best possible condition. As soon as it's been spent and been bashed around a bit in circulation it loses some value.

That said, and although I wouldn't actually buy any of these issues, I'd be delighted to find one in my change!

.

[Rob 2,996]

I suspect the aquatics error was never released for currency as all the examples I have come across are in the sealed packs issued by the mint and the error was picked up early on. This would mean that any examples found in change would have to be from a dismembered presentaion pack. i.e. you would have to be extremely lucky to find one.

[HeavyT 7]

The value of these first issue Aquatics coins seem to be going down as they now sell for around the £600 mark. Is anyone ever able to make an educated guess about how many of these were actually issued? Just wondering if they're really as rare as we've been led to believe.

[copper123 1,352]

I would have a guess at around a hundred - but it could be far less.

More and more will come to light in coming years .

I suspect this variety might be worth around £300 in a few years time as more and more finds are made, and the novelty fades away

There again i thought that undated 20p coins would be worth £5 now and they still fetch £30 so I could easy be wrong - it's not an exact science

[Rob 2,996]

It's always a difficult thing to speculate on future values. The 20p mule had a mintage which put it in the same ballpark as 1950 or 1951 pennies, the early euphoria rapidly died down to produce a similarly priced coin - a not unreasonable outcome. Crucial to the observed pricing data was the availability of examples to the public, which immediately resulted in a speculative bubble before settling back once common sense gained the upper hand.

The 20p error coins found their way into circulation, whereas I'm not sure the aquatics 50p did. All the examples known to this forum came from the early packaged sets, so there is no easy way for the public to gain exposure except for those sets that have been spent. This is not going to be a very large number for the forseeable future given the £60-70 loss an original owner would incur. Maybe future generations will spend them, assuming they are still circulating, but I don't think this would happen for a few years. That would support the price at the current level because there is no evidence to support a large population - people are too greedy to pass that one up.

Therefore I'm not so sure that prices will drop so low as £300 if only a few hundred examples come to light. I have to confess that I have tended to look a little dismissively on decimal coins, but given decimal coins are approaching their 50th anniversary, then it is clear that many people know of nothing else. This was forcibly demonstrated at the Midland yesterday. Along with at least two other dealers in the immediate vicinity, I didn't sell a single discrete predecimal coin. What I did sell was hundreds of pounds worth of decimal sets, 50p's, £2s, modern silver proofs etc. Everybody wanted modern stuff, with 50p and £2 coins the most popular. I didn't see that coming and was fortunate to have bought a full run of sets only a week before, but had I not done so might have taken less than £20. The demand isn't restricted to UK 50p's either, as I am regularly asked for Channel Islands, IOM and Gibraltar 50p's too. The market for decimals is much healthier than many might imagine.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Rob

[Nicholas 51]

I still like the dateless 20P of 2008. The Royal Mint's figures state that less than 250,000 dateless 20P were struck of a total 136M mintage, or less than 0.2%. More notably it's a dateless coin manufactured in this modern century. You can't tell me that in 2008 there was some little guy working this big minting press all alone swapping dies willy nilly like they may have done 300 years ago.. Astonishing!

http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/undated-20p-coin

Edited June 16, 2015 by Nicholas

[PWA 1967 1,840]

Slightly off topic but gibraltar commemorative coins can be bought in a couple of the banks on main street.

Also if anyone is ever going Benzaquen antiques worth a look round as always has a decent stock of coins and banknotes.

They are both only five minutes from each other and the shop only five minutes from the recently developed marina which has some nice bars.

[richtips86 24]

For me, Rob really has hit the nail on the head. Still a novice, I currently don't have the time to be able to really get my head around the varieties (let alone remember them) of predecimal coins. However with decimals it's easy, it's in your face, because that's what you handle on a daily basis, indeed it's all I've handled all my life (save foreign dosh of course).

However still trying to trace down a 1992 dot to dot 10p I have started to understand and learn the jargon, of say 'bead to I for instance' and can easily and cheaply compare wire rim to broad. Similarly, I'm trying to get a 1999 £2 in as close to uncirculated condition as possible (I actually think I have at £28 and have been meaning to post it up here) and so with decimals, in many ways you have the thrill of the chase that you don't otherwise get from pre-decimals. Equally you can easily learn and understand the subtle differences in hand as opposed to reading about them in a book (as I couldn't afford to buy multiple varieties of a predecimal coin, just to compare them in hand).

I also think there is an inherent snobbery from some predecimal collectors and dealers, much the same as people who stop liking a band because they become popular. I think anybody who gets in to coin collecting via buying royal mint specials or through the coin hunt folders should be encouraged and supported not poo pooed because ultimately a percentage will make the transition into predecimal, and indeed, in another 40yrs time unless a coin collector, nobody will have any knowledge of what a farthing etc. is.

Anyway, that's my musings over and done with

[Rob 2,996]

The problem for dealers with decimals is the volume of sales required to make a living. 20 Saxon, medieval or early milled coins on a tray might have a retail value of 5-10K. With few exceptions, a decimal coin will retail under a tenner, with the vast majority selling for a couple of quid at the most. Even at the heady heights of a tenner each you would still need 25 trays of coins to match £5K retail value. Little wonder then that most dealers don't carry this huge mass of coins around to fairs. Logistically, the only way to make a sensible living and not get a hernia is to leave the lowest value items out.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Rob

[richtips86 24]

The problem for dealers with decimals is the volume of sales required to make a living. 20 Saxon, medieval or early milled coins on a tray might have a retail value of 5-10K. With few exceptions, a decimal coin will retail under a tenner, with the vast majority selling for a couple of quid at the most. Even at the heady heights of a tenner each you would still need 25 trays of coins to match £5K retail value. Little wonder then that most dealers don't carry this huge mass of coins around to fairs. Logistically, the only way to make a sensible living and not get a hernia is to leave the lowest value items out.

I fully take on your point and wasn't suggesting that decimals are the way for dealers (eBay hobbyist dealers - maybe) to go, but was simply trying to make the point that just because decimal werent seen as true coins by some collectors doesn't make them any less valid as a collectible.

[Coinery 926]

The problem for dealers with decimals is the volume of sales required to make a living. 20 Saxon, medieval or early milled coins on a tray might have a retail value of 5-10K. With few exceptions, a decimal coin will retail under a tenner, with the vast majority selling for a couple of quid at the most. Even at the heady heights of a tenner each you would still need 25 trays of coins to match £5K retail value. Little wonder then that most dealers don't carry this huge mass of coins around to fairs. Logistically, the only way to make a sensible living and not get a hernia is to leave the lowest value items out.

I fully take on your point and wasn't suggesting that decimals are the way for dealers (eBay hobbyist dealers - maybe) to go, but was simply trying to make the point that just because decimal werent seen as true coins by some collectors doesn't make them any less valid as a collectible.

I've bought a lot of decimals from this very site, Rich! I've even decided on my two 2015 keepers out of a pile of 2ps and 5ps!

Always a collector!

[Paulus 1,942]

I too collect almost anything numismatic, just that 95% of my budget goes on earlier (late hammered - early milled) English coins. I have all decimal 50ps and £2 coins (but no varieties), including some proof sets and piedforts. Spare complete sets of Olympic 50ps (circulated but nice condition) if anyone is interested (these were speculative!).

I for one do not see decimal coins as not 'true coins' and can see the attractions of them along the lines you have eloquently outlined. I have recently been a bit put off by The Royal Mint's £5-£100 commems, and the designs and quality control are letting them down a bit.

All said and done though, this is mainly a 'pre-decimal' forum so it will predominantly be patronised by collectors who prefer earlier coins.

That's my 2 cents 2 pence half groat!

Edited June 16, 2015 by Paulus

[Peter 615]

I must say my interest in decimal coins is increasing .

To an extent of Liz 11 1d's

[DaveG38 385]

As part of my collect anything and everything strategy, I do collect decimal coins and have a date run of all from 1968 through to the present day, mostly collected from change early in the life of the coin. Thus most are GEF. I also have collected those varieties that exist, with the exception of some of the early 70s five and ten pence types. It's quite surprising what a weight of coins this represents. I keep them all in plastic sheets in a single album (nothing too posh for these beggars) and the sheer weight of the album is becoming unwieldy. I've just done a quick count of them and the total comes out close to 500 circulating coins (leaving out 25p and £5 commemoratives) so there's plenty for a collector to look for and enjoy, especially on a budget.

Edited June 17, 2015 by DaveG38

[copper123 1,352]

As numismatics is concerned decimal coins will never be scarce or show a great profit , I must admit in the last ten years or so it's got far more interesting with commems being fired out right left and centre.

I think this bodes well for the coin collectors in the future as really the age of the average collector these days is prob around 55 years old and the hobby will die without new blood.

I suppose things like the publicity around the undated 20p and kew gardens 50p can do little long term harm and more good than anything really.

Sixties and seventies crowns did little for the hobby in the long term , in fact putting many people off putting money into coins for life (remember the bags of Churchill crowns marketed as an investment)

[Mr T 169]

As numismatics is concerned decimal coins will never be scarce or show a great profit

Too true. The mints generally make the even modern rarities in enough numbers to satisfy their markets. I think the real potential is in the unintentional coins/mistakes like the undated 20p but even then they need to be reasonably rare to start with.

[Nightvision 0]

With the advent of technology and the rise of digital currency, and contactless payments etc we might phase out metal and paper currency completely. I hope not, but we don't really know what the future holds. Coins might become scarce after all, decimal or no.

The Royal Mint are encouraging a collector culture with their Great Coin Hunts but they are still late to the party.

Churchill crowns make nice heavy coin jewellery, I hear.

I agree that engraving standards have gone down. Compare the face on Britannia 50p to Britannia on a farthing.