Rare Kew Gardens Coin Ignites Bidding Frenzy, Sells for £186.99

A Kew Gardens 250th anniversary coin, one of the Royal Mint's rarest, sold for £186.99 on eBay after a bidding war. Released in 2009 with only 200,000 copies, it features the Chinese Pagoda at the Royal Botanic Gardens on its tails side.

Rare Kew Gardens Coin Sparks Bidding Frenzy, Fetches £186.99

A Kew Gardens 250th anniversary coin has sold for a staggering £186.99 on the online auction site eBay, igniting a fierce bidding war among collectors. The coin, one of the Royal Mint's most elusive releases, was originally minted in 2009 with a limited run of just 200,000.

This rarity has made the Kew Gardens coin a highly sought-after item among numismatists. The coin features the iconic Chinese Pagoda at the Royal Botanic Gardens on its reverse and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on its obverse.

The eBay listing for the 50p coin attracted 10 bids before it was eventually sold for £186.99. This figure exceeds the average market value of £156.25 for a Kew Gardens 50p coin, underscoring its desirability among collectors.

In the United Kingdom, the Kew Gardens 50p ranks as the rarest in circulation. Its mintage of 210,000 is significantly lower than other commemorative coins.

Other rare 50p coins stem primarily from the 2011 Olympics, with the wrestling, football, and judo designs commanding high prices. Only 1.1 million of each of these coins were produced.

Designs featuring Flopsy Bunny and Peter Rabbit, released in 2018, are also highly valued. Depicting characters from Beatrix Potter's beloved novels, these coins have a mintage of 1.4 million and typically sell for around £5.

In 2019, the Royal Mint introduced three new 50p designs, with a total mintage of 500 million coins. These included Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Paddington Bear at St Paul's Cathedral, and the Tower of London.

Top 10 Most Valuable 50p Coins

According to the Royal Mint, the top 10 most valuable 50p coins are as follows: