eBay: Rare bronze 20p coin SOLD for £900 as Royal Mint confirm error – could you have one?

A rare coin found in circulation has been confirmed to be a very extraordinary error coin.

The bronze 20p piece was found by eBay seller “florin43”, who sent it to Royal Mint to be verified.

Royal Mint wrote to the seller and confirmed the minting error.

Now the coin has sold for £900 on eBay, despite the minting error being confirmed in 1982.

The seller provided an image of the coin with the official letter from Royal Mint.

It stated: “Our examination has confirmed that the coin is make of bronze and not, as it ought to be, of cupro-nickel.

“What has happened is that a black disk of metal intended for one of the many bronze coins produce by the Royal Mint unfortunately became mixed in with 20p blanks and was struck in error by the 20p dies.

“The coin subsequently failed to be detected by our inspection procedure an was allowed to enter circulation.”

This is not the first time such an error has been made, according to the seller.

The seller wrote under the listing: “Verified by the Royal Mint this is a potentially unique error (although three others are known for different years: an internet search will show the 1984, 1987 and 1990 equivalent errors the last of which sold a few years ago).

“1982 was the first year of issue and it would appear a blank for a different coin mixed with the blanks for the 20p and then escaped the Royal Mint quality assurance.”

Another bronze 20p was given away in November 2011 by website Change Checker.

This particular coin occurred when a 1p blank was struck with a 20p die.

In 2016 a similar coin sold for £1,350 on eBay.

A rare 50p coin has been listed on the auction site for £1,001. 

The coin is listed under the title: “Very Rare The Battle Of Britain 1940 50p Pence 2015 Coin Queens New Portrait”.

The listing description explains that the coin is already in circulation but is in “excellent condition”.

It reads: “Very rare The Battle Of Britain 1940 50p coin. Circulated but in excellent condition! Must have for collectors!”

The post has 82 watchers following it, suggesting that it has generated some demand across the eBay community.