Ultra rare Kew Gardens 50p smashes its estimate at Royal Mint auction and sells for £6,800
- Gold Proof of Kew Gardens 50p coin sells for £6,800 at Royal Mint coin auction
- It has increased in value by 240% since the last time it was sold at auction
- There was an estimate of £5,000 – £6,000
A gold-proof Kew Gardens 50p sold for £6,800 this afternoon at the Royal Mint's online auction of 343 coins, which took place over the past week and a half.
The ultra-rare version of the sought-after Kew Gardens 50p was estimated to fetch between £5,000 and £6,000 and the starting bid for the coin reached £4,000.
The much famed Kew Gardens 50p is one of the rarest circulating coins in existence due to its scarcity in circulation and as a commemorative coin.
With only 210,000 coins minted in 2009, these coins can sell for over £150 and as such the majority have been withdrawn from circulation and into the hands of collectors. The coin is ranked number one in Change Checker's 50p scarcity index.
Go, go, go!: The sought-after gold proof coin fetched £6,800 at a Royal Mint coin auction, up 1,260% since 2009
But only 629 gold proof versions of the Kew Gardens 50p coin were purchased by the public of 1000 and minted.
When the gold-proof version of the coin was first minted in 2009, collectors could buy it from the Royal Mint for £550 – a return of 1,260 percent.
To show how quickly the value of these gold-proof coins has grown, five years ago one sold at a similar auction for £2,000, meaning the value has increased by 240 percent since then.
The obverse features a design by Christopher Le Brun in honor of the Royal Botanical Gardena, depicting the pagoda at Kew with a decorative vine winding in and around the tower and with the years '1759' and 2002' on either side of the word 'Kew'. '.
This coin was first released in 2009 to celebrate 250 years of the iconic West London landmark. It is sold at auction in its original issue box.
The 50p was then re-released in a second batch in 2019. These are less valuable but still sell for £80.
Here are some of the other coins that went under the hammer at the Royal Mint's online auction.
Queen's Beasts one kilo gold proof
Only 16 of these coins were made by the Royal Mint and the coin being auctioned is estimated to fetch £80,000 to £90,000.
The starting bid for this coin at the Royal Mint's online auction was £69,000.
Platinum Jubilee one kilo gold proof
The Queen's Platinum Jubilee 1 kilo gold proof coin is estimated to fetch between £60,000 and £70,000.
The obverse of the coin features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Jody Clark. The reverse features symbols of the four nations and decorative scrolls surrounding Her Majesty's crowned code in the centre.
Brilliant uncirculated five sovereign piece from 2019
This modest 2019 five-sovereign piece, struck to the Brilliant Uncirculated standard with a matte finish, is estimated to fetch £2,000 to £3,000.
2010 £2 Florence Nightingale gold proof
The 2010 £2 Florence Nightingale coin is on Change Checker's £2 scarcity index – and the gold-proof version will sell for £900 to £1,100 at the Royal Mint's auction.
Sold today for €750.