People urged to check if they have ‘special’ 50p coins worth up to £200 each

Members of the public have been urged to check their wallets and purses to see if they have special 50p coins worth up to £200 each.

Just 210,000 of the special edition Kew Garden 50p coins were released in 2009 and, while many have since been snapped up by avid coin collectors, experts believe there are still some in circulation today.

The coin was released to mark 250 years since Kew Gardens opened in 1759. It features the famous Chinese Pagoda at the Royal Botanic Garden on the tails side with the Queen’s face as normal on the other.

And whoever has one could be sitting upon a small fortune.

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According to change checking website Coin Hunter, the average price range for the Kew Gardens 50p is between £150.89 and £161.50, though there have also been examples of this coin selling for even more – one recently sold for £215 on eBay after attracting a showering of bids from coin collectors.

But if you do find a Kew Gardens coin in your wallet, purse or down the side of your sofa, you’ll need to check the date before you try and claim your cash.

The Royal Mint reissued a batch of the coins in 2019 as part of a collection to celebrate fifty years of the 50p, and these particular coins don’t tend to be valued as highly as their 2009 counterparts.

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Though they can still fetch a decent sum of money, with the 2019 edition of the coin being known to sell for between £70-£80.

And if you’re looking to buy one of the coins for yourself, websites and Facebook groups from change experts like Coin Hunter can help you work out if a coin is the real deal or not, while The Fake Pound Coin Database has listed a number of examples to show you what you should be aware of.

You can also get your coins officially verified by the Royal Mint.

Visit the website here for more information.