Undated handout photo issued by the Royal Mint of a 50p coin depicting the Atlantic Salmon and bearing the King's portrait, it is the rarest such coin in circulation, the Royal Mint has confirmed (Image: PA)

Woman finds rarest 50p coin in UK - and it's not Kew Gardens

by · Birmingham Live

The UK has a new rarest 50p coin, knocking the previous title holder, a piece depicting Kew Gardens, off its pedestal. The news was shared by TikTok feed @coincheckerUK, which analyses the rarity of coins and reasons for changes in their scarcity.

The account @change checkers was thrilled to share the news with its followers. A woman announced: "Change checkers, we have some extremely exciting news to share with you. Britain has a new rarest 50p coin! It's just been announced that the 2023 Salmon 50p has knocked the Kew Gardens 50p off the top spot as it has a mintage of just 200,000.

This means for the first time in 15 years, we have a new rarest 50p for collectors to look out for! " She added: "And the best part is, you could have one in your pocket right now. If you're one of the lucky few to have found a Salmon 50p in your change, let us know where you found it in the comments as we'd love to know where they're popping up around the country."

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Commenters were quick to share their own discoveries, with one person revealing: "I got three sealed bags from the post office. So glad I did now."

One fortunate change checker poster revealed he had stumbled upon the coins at his workplace. He stated, "In my shop till Hertfordshire Ross on Wye, It's on eBay for £99, no privy mark."

Another individual chimed in: "It's funny that people are paying over £100 for the one with the privy mark yet Royal mail are still selling the 2023 with the privy for £34.", reports the Mirror.

A further commenter noted: "The problem is the new Salmon 50p is not a Commemorative Coin, so even though people are going crazy about it, the 2009 Kew Gardens will remain the most collectable."

The Mirror highlighted TikTok user @CoinCollectingWizard, who has an impressive following of 212,000, as he unveiled three special penny coins to watch out for – with one potentially worth £1million. Do you own any of these?

He explained: "In 1950, they only made 240,000 coins which means for £1,000 you could have bought all the 1950 pennies ever made. After the war there was a great shortage of small change."

"So to find a 1950 UK pre-decimal penny today, you are looking at between £30-£70, depending on condition."

The next coin to look out for was the 1918 KN penny, the value of which "depends on the condition". The user added: "A good grade 1918 KN penny can be over £30 but as the condition increases, such as an extra fine version, you would be looking at over £600."

However, there's another coin that could be worth even more.