Ebay is home to a great many rare coin varieties, which are bought and sold on the website every single day.
Certain coins are of particular rarity to collectors, who know the value of these special pieces of the British currency.
A rare 50p coin celebrating the 250th anniversary of Samuel Johnson’s dictionary is an example of this.
The reverse design of this silver 50p coin has the words ‘fifty pence’ written on it in the characteristic style of the dictionary it commemorates.
It has the usual heptagon shape of most 50p coins, but in its rareness it stands out from the rest.
The seller, who goes by the username go666o2012 and has 100 per cent positive feedback, describes the coin simply as a “very rare used coin”.
However the Royal Mint website gives us more information about this particularly special piece of British currency.
“Entries from the dictionary for the words FIFTY and PENCE, with the figure ’50’ above, and the inscription JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY 1755 below,” reads the entry on the website.
“Greeted with joy and great relief in the English intellectual world, Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary was published in 1755.
“250 years later, the dedicated scholar was honoured with a commemorative fifty pence coin. “Aptly enough, the detailed reverse by Tom Phillips shows Johnson’s explanation for fifty pence, while the obverse features the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley, FRBS.”
Earlier this week, Express.co.uk featured another rare coin which was selling on eBay: a “new pence” 2p coin believed to be worth £5,000.
While 2p coins are not uncommon, what makes this specific coin popular is the unique wording on it.
Rather than “two pence”, the coin says “new pence” on it – as all coins produced between 1971 and 1981 did.
The coin in question is from 1971, the year the new pence coins began being producted, and this gives it a special status.
The seller, known as obkhan786, refers to the coin as a “unique piece of 2p coin”.