Rare coins are a topic of fascination for many people, with some coin collectors being prepared to pay huge amounts of money for items to add to their collection. However, whether that includes a Battle of Hastings 1066 50p coin which was released in 2016, is currently unknown. This particular coin has been listed on eBay for an astounding £800 starting price. At the time of writing, it had no bids, with just shy of a week left until the auction was set to end.
On top of the hundreds of pounds the buyer will have to spend, they’ll also need to pay £1.40 for standard delivery.
The seller, “samwilki23”, has posted snaps of the coin, as well as a brief description.
As well as calling it “rare”, they said the circulated item is “a piece of English history”.
“A shiny good condition rare battle of Hastings coin,” the eBay user added.
So, is this coin rare? What is known about the design?
The coin itself was brought out to mark the 950th Anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.
The famous fight happened in 1066, and was between the Normal-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and the English army of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson.
Its result was a Norman victory, with William the Conqueror conquering England.
The exact mintage of this 50p is unconfirmed with reports ranging from 6,100,000 to 6,700,000.
According to the website Change Checker, it ranks at one on the scarcity index – making it common.
While it may be of the 50 pence variety, the publication Spend it? Save it? What should you do? estimates its worth to be the value of £2.
The guide also issues a warning about buying coins online.
Just as it’s up to what the collector is willing to pay, it explains that that it’s down to the owner when it comes to posting the asking price.
This means that some coins can be listed for a far higher asking price than what it’s actually worth.
As a result, this means that cheaper coins on auction sites can seem like better value – even though they’re still being listed for a figure that’s higher than their worth.
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Which are the rarest £1, £2, 50p, 20p, 10p and 2p coins?
Rarest £2 coins
The rarest £2 coin is the 2002 Commonwealth Games NI coin with 485,500 in circulation. This is followed by the 2002 Commonwealth Games Wales which has 588,500 in circulation.
Next up is the 2015 Navy, and there are 650,000 in circulation.
Rarest £1 coins
The most rare £1 coins are all part of a series celebrating the British capitals.
The rarest of these is the 2011 Edinburgh coin, with 935,000 in circulation. Of the 2011 Cardiff coins there are 1,615,000 in circulation, while the 2010 London coin has 2,635,000 in circulation.
Rarest 50p coin
The rarest 50p coin is the Kew Gardens coin, which is also the rarest coin in circulation. It there were only 210,000 minted.
The football Olympic 50p coin has 1,125,500 in circulation, and the wrestling coin has 1,129,500 in circulation.
It is not so easy to evaluate the rarest 20p coins, 10p coins and even 2p coins as exact circulation figures are not known.
However, various versions of the coins are known to sell for large sums.
These include the dateless 20ps, which are actually part of a run from 2008. There may be between 50,000 and 200,000 of these coins in circulation.
The 1983 ‘New Pence’ 2p coin can also sell for a huge sum, up to £650.