A 50p coin with a specific error has sold at auction for a whopping 150 times its original value.
The rare coin was minted with a mistake which makes it very valuable to collectors.
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It was sold for £315.16 following an online bidding war between six bidders hoping to nab the rare coin.
The Olympic swimmer 50p has one tiny mistake that boosts its value more than 100 times.
Part of the London Olympic commemorative collection the minting error appears on the tails face of the 50p.
Without the minting error the coin is only worth its face value.
The rare 50p sold at auction depicts an Olympic swimmer mid stroke with water passing around their head.
Minted ahead of the London Olympics it is one of 29 commemorative designs created for the games.
When it was minted in 2011 a minor mistake was made resulting in a batch of the coins being slightly different to the others.
Most of the coins show a swimmer with a clear, smooth face but around 600 were affected by an error that makes them super rare.
On the rare version of the coin the wave lines pass through the swimmers face giving the smooth image a ridged texture.
Collector’s editions of the coins could have the rare misprint and fetch a much higher price.
Coins with low mintages and errors are more valuable because there are less of them in circulation.
The rarer a coin is the more valuable it becomes to collectors.
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What makes a coin rare?
One of the most popular types of coins to collect are 50p pieces.
This is because of their large surface area, as there is enough spaces to add new and intricate designs on.
With a 27.5mm diameter, it’s the biggest British coin and is used to celebrate big occasions, anniversaries, and historical events.
Errors make a coin unique which means they will most likely be worth more, as there a fewer of them.
Even without a misprint, if a coin has a low mintage there are fewer of them in circulation and so are deemed rare.
As a general rule of thumb, the rarer the coin the more valuable they are to collectors.
