Brits are being encouraged to rummage through their coin collections for a potentially lucrative error £1 coin featuring King Charles III. Recently distributed £1 coins with a special bee design could be worth more than £1,000 due to a specific minting mishap.
Expert The Coin Collector UK, who has more than 145,000 TikTok followers, explained what to look for, saying: “Check all your bee pound coins. Brand new bee £1 coins entered circulation just last month and an extremely rare error has been discovered within a month. The error was spotted by a Post Office worker after a delivery of the new coins reached the general public.”
The sought-after error coin will be completely golden, missing the standard design feature of a silver centre. The enthusiast described the irregularity further, adding: “They noticed an all-gold pound coin that had clearly been minted by mistake. Our 12-sided one pound coins are supposed to be gold only around the edge, with a circular silver cupronickel part in the middle.”
None of these misprinted coins have hit the auction block yet. However, they will soon enough.
And they’re predicted to attract bids potentially soaring to more than £1,000. The coin expert concluded: “Errors like this are often snapped up by error collectors, and they aren’t cheap.
“They sell potentially for hundreds of pounds, due to their rarity and also the fact that they should not even exist in the first place. The exact price this would sell for is unknown.
“But an estimate of £500 plus seems fair. If it goes to auction, who knows it could reach over £1, 000 if someone really wants this rare coin in their collection.”
(Image: Getty)
According to the Royal Mint, the bee design is part of a new collection of coins “inspired by Britain’s natural habitat”. They were unveiled in early October, with each design “highlighting His Majesty King Charles III’s passion for conservation and the natural world”.
The Royal Mint says: “The new coins mark the final chapter of His Majesty King Charles III’s transition onto British coinage. Several million of the coins are currently in production at The Royal Mint.
“The 50p will be the first coin to enter circulation and is expected to appear in people’s change by the end of November, with other denominations expected to enter circulation from 2024 in line with demand.”