Man finds rare 5 cent ‘flamingo’ coin while searching through his change

The ordinary 5 cent coin is worth hundreds of times its face value due to a small error

A Perth man couldn't believe his luck when he found a rare 5 cent “flamingo” coin while searching through his change.

The ordinary 5 cent coin is worth hundreds of times its face value due to a small error.

The Perth man said he was searching through $40 worth of 5 cent coins and found nothing until he hit “bingo” on “virtually the last coin”.

He shared a picture of the 2001 “flamingo” error coin he found and said it was the first one he had come across.

Thompsons Coins and Collectables told Yahoo Finance the rare coin was worth much more than its face value.

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The error coins have a bit of extra metal below the number ‘5’. When you turn the coin upside down, this error makes the ‘5’ look like a flamingo's beak.

“The errors that occur on Australian coins, and I suppose most world coins, are usually caused by something happening to the dies that strike the coins,” Anthony Thompson, owner of Thompsons Coins and Collectables, told Yahoo Finance.

“There are a huge number of different varieties on coins and that’s one of the main causes, is die cracks.”

According to Coinworks, the 2001 flamingo error coin recently sold for $2,000.

Other valuable 5 cent coins include ones minted in 1972 worth between $20 to $100 due to their relatively small mintage.

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