Brits urged to check at home for rare 50p coin that could be worth £2,500

According to one expert, the 2011 piece was minted to celebrate the London Olympics in 2012

People in the UK are being urged to check their homes for a rare 50 pence coin that could be worth £2,500.

The 2011 piece was minted to celebrate the London Olympics in 2012, according to one expert.

Although millions of this specific coin were actually made, one small difference on the coin could make it especially valuable.

The coin in question is known as the “aquatics” design and features a swimmer clad in goggles and a swimming cap.

The coin expert, known online as Coin Collector UK, explained more about the design on social media platform TikTok.

He said: “Become rich if you find this coin.

“This coin is worth £2,500 pounds if you find the rare version in your change.”

However, you need to look carefully to ensure the piece has the feature that makes it more rare.

Lines representing water will need to be engraved over the swimmer’s face. Without these lines, the 50p isn’t worth nearly as much.

He continued: “The one to be looking out for will have lines covering the face like this.”

This was the original design until it was updated with the lines removed.

“Only 600 of these were minted before the Royal Mint decided to change the design as it was too hard to make out,” the Coin Collector said.

But the common version without the lines over the face is “still worth keeping”.

He said: “And with a mintage of around two million, it's worth about £2.”

However, the valuable coin came as part of a souvenir set to it is less likely to actually be in circulation.

He added: “Unfortunately, the one with the lines over the face was not put into circulation so you will need to be lucky to find it and hope someone has broken it out of the packaging and spent it by mistake. This is unlikely though considering they sell for between £2,000 and £3,000 due to the limited numbers originally minted.

“Nonetheless, it is always worth checking. I found numerous coins that were not meant to be in circulation, which proves they do pop up every so often. So get checking.”