An EC 50p coin, which was minted between 1992 and 1993, could now earn you 120 times its face value. Only 109,000 of these coins were put into circulation by the Royal Mint, making them incredibly hard to come across and inevitably valuable.
It is said to be a lot more difficult to find than the 2009 popular Kew Gardens counterpart, with the ‘90s version being twice as rare (210,000 Kew Gardens’ 50ps were made). The 30-year-old coins were originally minted to celebrate the Presidency of the Council of European Community Ministers and the completion of the Single Market.
This was a forerunner to the European Union, which was formed in November 1993. Designed by Mary Milner Dicken, the coin features a bird’s-eye view of a conference table surrounded by 12 chairs - one for each member of the Council, as the Mirror reports.
With the UK at the head of the table, 12 stars were placed in the geographic positions of each member’s capital city. The years 1992 and 1993 are also present at the top of the coin.
Its reverse side features Queen Elizabeth II. The design was stamped on a larger and heavier 50p coin which was replaced by a smaller version after being removed from circulation in 1997.
While finding one of these coins lying about is remarkably unlikely, coin experts do not believe it is impossible to stumble across one at the bottom of a piggy bank or at the back of the sofa. This 50p is highly sought after, with Change Checker describing it as “the UK’s rarest 50p coin”, as Chronicle Live reports.
The amount of money people will be willing to fork out for one of these 50ps can vary, although Change Checker collectors estimate they could fetch up to £60. Copes Coins goes beyond this by predicting a value between £65 and £125, depending on its condition.
Although the Kew Gardens 50ps are theoretically easier to find, their value actually exceeds that of the ‘90s equivalent, after one was sold on eBay for £215 earlier this year.
