On Air Now
The EE Official Big Top 40 from Global 4pm - 7pm
Rare Mrs Tittlemouse Beatrix Potter 50p coin sells for £430 on eBay
22 November 2019, 07:25 | Updated: 22 November 2019, 07:27
A rare Beatrix Potter 50p coin has sold for a whopping £430 on eBay.
It’s time to dig around in your old bags and coat pockets, because a rare Beatrix Potter coin has sold for 860 times its original value.
The coin features an illustration of Mrs Tittlemouse, the animal who liked to clean up after the messy insects that visited her.
Coin enthusiasts have been dying to get hold of the 50p piece after the collection debuted last year to celebrate 150 years since the birth of children’s author Beatrix Potter.
This particular version attracted two bids and sold for the price the seller put it up for.
The Mrs Tittlemouse coin is the third rarest of the series with 1.7 million released into circulation by the Royal Mint.
An adorable Flopsy Bunny version of the coin - released at the same time - had a circulation of 1.4 million.
It comes after a Peter Rabbit version from the collection racked up an impressive £621 on eBay.
The collectable was originally sold by The Royal Mint in 2016 for £55, with just 15,000 released.
Unfortunately, if you think your piggy bank holds a 50p from the Beatrice Potter collection, coin enthusiasts will be looking for a piece which is in good condition.
And there’s no guarantee that you’ll be up to £500 richer by selling your coin as other sellers only made £7 from the same 50p last month, while a colour version sold for £48.
Meanwhile, earlier this year the Royal Mint revealed the ten rarest 50p coins currently in circulation.
And if you’re sitting on the 2009 Kew Gardens design, you’re in luck as this remains the nation's rarest coin.
The pretty image has the Gardens' famous pagoda on one side and there were just 210,000 created.
A particularly good condition coin recently sold for £400 at auction.
Elsewhere, an Olympic error coin, which was released to mark the London 2012 Games, racked up almost £600 online.
The original aquatic coin illustration was redesigned by The Royal Mint to show less water crossing the swimmer and make their face more visible.
But an unknown number of coins were accidentally made with the first design and entered into circulation, making them even more valuable to collectors.
