eBay: Error on rare £2 coin means it’s worth a mint - does your money hold THIS mistake?
EBAY could see a surge in £2 coins going to auction as a specific design, believed to hold a striking error, could be worth a small fortune.
The glaring error has been pointed out by coin experts on a number of 2015 Britannia £2 coins, and the printing mistake could make coin collectors a hefty sum.
Britannia has a long standing history with British coinage.
It first appeared on a 1672 farthing during the reign of Charles II and has since featured on a British coin in one way or another.
In 2008 Britannia was dropped from the 50p coin, and it wasn’t until 2015 when she made her return on Britain’s highest denomination coin.
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The Royal Mint said the misalignment was “almost certainly the rest of one of the dies working loose and rotating during the striking process”.
The coins with the error show the Queen’s head rotated clockwise by around 150 degrees - but with only 650,000 in circulation, and just a few thousand ‘upside down’, you will have to dig deep to find a special one.
According to experts at Change Checker earlier this year, there are around 3,250 of the ‘iverted’ £2 coins in circulation.
The Royal Mint said the misalignment was “almost certainly the rest of one of the dies working loose and rotating during the striking process”.
eBay is home to many items for collectors and rare coins pop up on the site all the time.
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Earlier this week, a rare Celtic Cross £1 coin was selling for a whopping £2,450 on the auction website.
The Celtic Cross coins were issued in both 1996 and 2001 and was designed by Norman Sillman, created as a tribute to Northern Ireland.
Royal Mint described the coin as “A Celtic Cross with a Pimpernel Flower in the centre surrounded by an ancient Torc representing Northern Ireland”.
The inscription around the edge of the coin reads: “DECUS ET TUTAMEN”. It means “an ornament and a safeguard”.
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So why was this coin worth so much? Errors on coins make them collectable and on this coin the lettering around the edge was printed upside down.
This means it is readable when collectors hold the coin with the Celtic design upwards. With correct versions of the coin the lettering should be the other way around.
The seller of the coin Michaelpitchford said: “Third in a four-year series featuring the constituent parts of the United Kingdom, the 1996 one pound coin represents Northern Ireland. Reaching deep into the history of Northern Ireland, Norman Sillman's reverse design depicts a richly decorated Celtic-style cross, surmounted by the famous Broighter collar.
“At the centre of the design lies a pimpernel, the lovely flower which flourishes around Lough Neagh. The obverse design is Raphael Maklouf's elegant portrait of Her Majesty The Queen.”
