Rare Kew Gardens 50p coin
The Royal Mint is asking people to check whether they have a rare 50p coin loose in their pockets or down the back of the sofa, describing the coin a a “miniature work of art”.
The Kew gardens 50p is one of the rarest commemorative coins in circulation, with only 210,000 of the coins ever released into circulation to mark the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens in 2009. This compares with 22.7 million of the shield of the Royal Arms 50p design in 2008 and 7.5 million of the Girlguiding 50p in 2010.
The coin, pictured above, shows a design of the Royal Botanic Garden’s famous pagoda encircled by a vine and accompanied by the dates 1759 and 2009 along with the word “KEW”.
Shane Bissett, Director of Commemorative Coin at The Royal Mint said:
They really are miniature works of art worth looking out for, admiring and collecting – and keeping hold of them is a great way for us to build our own private art galleries. Now that people know just how rare this particular coin is we expect them to disappear from circulation fast.
The rare 50p coins are going for between £20 and £30 on internet auction site eBay.
