Rare rockhopper penguin 50p penguin coins could make a profit due to minting error

There are numerous rare coins currently in circulation, from Olympic-themed 50ps to those adorned with the likes of Peter Rabbit and Paddington Bear.
There are numerous rare coins currently in circulation, from Olympic-themed 50ps to those adorned with the likes of Peter Rabbit and Paddington Bear.There are numerous rare coins currently in circulation, from Olympic-themed 50ps to those adorned with the likes of Peter Rabbit and Paddington Bear.
There are numerous rare coins currently in circulation, from Olympic-themed 50ps to those adorned with the likes of Peter Rabbit and Paddington Bear.

Those with minting errors can actually be worth quite a lot of money if you spot one in your change - which is what happened recently when a coin featuring an image of a penguin sold on eBay for just under £114.

Minting error

The silver coin was minted in 2017 as part of a set of four penguin-themed 50ps, which were designed to celebrate the wildlife on the British Isles.

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The coins featured king, gentoo, magellanic and rockhopper penguins, but one of these 50p coins featured the wrong variety of rockhopper penguin, instead including one native to an island 4,000km away. For this reason, the coins became more valuable.

A limited number were minted with the wrong bird on them, as there are two types of rockhopper penguin - the southern rockhopper and the northern rockhopper.

The southern rockhopper is commonly found on the Falkland Islands, but the northern rockhopper is found on the island of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The difference can be spotted by looking out for the length of the feathers on the bird's crest, as northern rockhoppers have longer feathers.

An image of the northern rockhopper ended up on 3,200 coins before the mistake was spotted - with a corrected version of the coin then being released, instead featuring the southern rockhopper.

How much are these coins worth?

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Recently, one of the error coins sold on eBay for £113.95, reports This Is Money, making a profit of over £100. Another of the coins sold for £86, and others have been listed for around £30.

However, these coins were commemorative and made by a private seller called Pobjoy Mint, and they cannot be used in shops in the Falkland Islands or in the UK.

If you find a coin and want to sell it, you should have it verified by the manufacturers beforehand.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic coins

A Royal Proclamation published on 12 July announced that a new 50p coin will be issued next year, in support of Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The final design of the coin is yet to be revealed, say Change Checker.

However, it is thought that it will feature symbols that depict individual Olympic sports, accompanied by the Olympic Rings.