Coin news: Most valuable and rarest 50p coins in the UK

Coin site ChangeChecker has a list of the coins to watch out for and if you find any of the ones below in your pocket, have a look on eBay because you could be quids in.

Although, the value of the coin obviously depends on the demand from collectors.

In general, the lower the mintage the rarer the coin, and the rarer the coin the more valuable it is.

That said, ChangeChecker's scarcity index also takes into account two other key pieces of information.

Changechecker.org has created a scarcity index to help you work out how valuable your coin is

The most sought after 50p - the Kew Gardens design - is currently worth up to £316 on eBay.

The next 14 rarest coins are all from the 2012 Olympics, with the Flopsy Bunny coin from the Peter Rabbit collection coming in fifteenth.

An Olympic football 50p from general circulation can sell for up to £26, for example, while a collector's uncirculated version fetches up to £48.

Flopsy Bunny, which was lower down the list, still sold for £10 on eBay earlier this year.

The rarest 50p designs have been revealed

How much are other 50p coins worth?

Many coins can be worth much more when sold on eBay as part of a collection.

Although sometimes you'll get better individual prices if another collector needs your coin to complete their collection.

Other coins sought after by collectors include the Beatrix Potter 50p coins.

These tend to go for less than £10 each but, the original 2016 Peter Rabbit coin did once sell for up to £840 on the auction website.

Coins with mistakes tend to be among the highest values because of their extremely limited numbers.

A rare error coin from the 2012 Olympics set sold for £590 on eBay last August.

New coins - like this Diversity one - can also be worth a lot of money

New coins that could be worth a mint too

In March last year, the Royal Mint re-released sets of five of the rarest and most popular 50ps to celebrate half a decade of the coin.

The new coins are made with old designs including Kew Gardens, Girl Guides and Scouts, but are stamped with the 2009 date which could make them super valuable among collectors.

The £90 collectors' proof sets sold out in February but you can still get uncirculated sets for £45 directly from the Royal Mint.

SEE ALSO:

• Royal Mint will not make 2p or £2 coins for 10 years
• Old pound coins still missing in UK

What makes a coin more valuable?

Generally, collectors look at the mintage figures of a coin to assess its value.

Rather than just basing a coin's value on the rarity, Changechecker.org looks at two other key pieces of information.

This includes how many of each coin are listed as "collected" by members of the site, which indicates the relative ease of finding a particular coin.

The experts also track the number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous three months, showing the current level of collector demand.

While the index doesn't necessarily correspond to value, it is an effective indicator.