NewsDio Desk : A new 50p coin honoring Sherlock Holmes has gone into general circulation, which means the great detective can now appear in your change at any time. If you spot the currency, which features a silhouette of a deerstalker and pipe enthusiast, it may be worth more than its face value. However, since the Royal Mint has yet to confirm the coin’s scarcity, even Sherlock Holmes will be stumped as to its true worth. Continue reading to learn which rare 50ps are the most valuable and how likely you will be given one at the cash register.
The value of a Sherlock Holmes 50p is to commemorate the 160th anniversary of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth and the Royal Mint made several variants of the Sherlock Holmes coin available for purchase on their website earlier in May. This concept features a deerstalker-clad detective surrounded by the titles of some of his most well-known stories. A brilliant uncirculated coin in a presentation pack was the cheapest choice, and it’s still available for £10.
Before they sold out, other models, such as limited edition silver and gold proof coins, sold for up to £795 each, these rare coins have since appeared on eBay, but they don’t always sell for a high price. The out-of-stock silver proof edition of the currency seems to have sold for about £85, which is higher than the Royal Mint’s £55 mark.
However, it has also sold for around £40. Between the 23rd and the 28th of May, the genius uncirculated edition sold for a maximum of £11.50, just £1.50 more than its retail value. So what is the value of it? On eBay UK, the mid-point price for Sherlock Holmes 50p coins marked as sold is £1.24. A circulated example of this 50p coin in good condition costs between £1.14 and £1.43. This was an outlier since it usually sold for less. The circulated variant of the cash, on the other hand, can fetch large sums of money. However, only if there aren’t too many. The coin is also available in a Gold Proof version, limited to 400 pieces.
Even though the selling price is nearly £795, these are likely to sell quickly. Of course, you should always wait in the hopes that one would appear in your shift one day soon. The coins are currently in circulation with a total of 3.1 million. One currency in circulation recently sold for £7.50 on eBay, more than 15 times its face value. The coins have a circulation of 3.4 million and are extremely common among collectors. We came across one that had recently been sold for £4.50. The currency is also available in a Gold Proof version, limited to 400 pieces.
Is the Sherlock Holmes 50p sufficiently rare?
The 2009 Kew Gardens coin is already the most expensive traded 50p, fetching £100 on eBay. Because of its low mintage (only 210,000 were produced), it is precious. The 2016 Peter Rabbit coin, on the other hand, was minted over 9 million times. The Sherlock Holmes 50p mintage figures are unlikely to be released any time soon. Collectors can see prices comparable to those seen at Kew Gardens if it turns out to be similarly scarce. According to the coin-collecting website Change Checker, the Kew Gardens 50p was ignored for years before official mintage figures were announced in 2014.
Just 210,000 of the 2009 Kew Gardens 50p design were produced, making it the country’s rarest coin. With 1,129,500 coins made, the 2011 Olympic wrestling design is the second rarest 50p coin in circulation, according to 2018 mintage estimates. There’s no way of telling whether anything similar would happen with the Sherlock Holmes coin right now. However, if you find it in your change, it might not be worth selling just yet. Collectors are unlikely to pay more for a circulation-quality Sherlock Holmes 50p than they will for the £10 genius uncirculated edition, which is still available for purchase, according to Change Checker.
What other unusual 50ps should I be on the lookout for?
This year, the Royal Mint has issued at least four new commemorative 50p coins and coin sets, one of which commemorated other commemorative 50ps. Following the 2016 line of non-color Beatrix Potter character coins, the Mint issued a Stephen Hawking 50p and a full-color Peter Rabbit 50p in March to honor the influential scientist. Julia Donaldson’s Gruffalo received its 50p in February, bringing the total number of children’s books to 50. The only difference between these 50ps and the Sherlock Holmes 50p is that none of them has yet gone into circulation.
As a result, the only way you’ll find them in your change is if a collector spends one by mistake. To add them to your collection, you’ll most likely have to buy them online. There are, however, several extremely rare 50ps in circulation that you might come across. Mainly if you apply for a Sherlockian degree of concentration. The 2017 Sir Isaac Newton coin is the second-rarest 50p by mintage after the Kew Gardens coin. In the week leading up to this post, the circulated edition appears to have sold on eBay for various prices between £1.04 and £3.99.
Some 2012 London Olympic Games coins regularly sell for more than face value on the internet. Some sports are more valuable than others, with the tongue-in-cheek football coin “explains” the offside rule always commanding the highest price. As a result, the only way you’ll find them in your change is if a collector spends one by mistake. However, eBay listings should be taken with a grain of salt. Sellers would artificially inflate prices by setting high starting bids, and they could theoretically manipulate the market by bidding on their goods. In the end, a rare coin is only worth what a collector is willing to pay for it. If you sell your one-of-a-kind 50p, you might not make any money.