A DAD couldn’t believe his luck after a £2 coin given to him as change sold for more than £200.
Ben Mason, 26, was handed the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games coin at his local shop last October.
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But he said he knew from the off he had a rare piece on him.
The stay-at-home dad-of-four listed it on eBay where it was snapped up for £236.74.
After fees, he was left with £206 in profit which the Royton, Greater Manchester, resident was delighted with.
“I was over the moon when I found it – absolutely ecstatic,” he said.
“It’s been hard recently, not just for me but for everyone with the cost-of-living crisis.
“It helped massively with energy bills and food as I’m a father of four. I just couldn’t believe that a coin could be worth so much.”
Ben chose to list his coin for auction at a lower price, in the hope he’d get a few bids.
He said: “I had it listed on eBay for auction as when I searched, I noticed everyone was selling as buy it now for £200 plus.
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“As no one had one on for auction I thought I’d take the opportunity to put it on as an auction starting for £100 bidding.
“But I also had a buy now price for £350.
“Within two days I got my first bid of £190 and then there was nothing up until the last hour – where the battle started.
“To my surprise the last hour the bidding kept going up and up until time ran out and sold for £236.74.
“But because I used eBay, they take a percentage so in total I got £206.
“That doesn’t bother me – I technically swapped £2 for £206.”
The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games coin was put into circulation in 2011 to commemorate the fourth Commonwealth Youth Games, hosted on the Isle of Man.
It features the official mascot of the games, Tosha the Cat, as well as the logo of the games.
According to the website Change Checker, which reveals how much of a certain coin is in circulation, mintage figures for British Isles coins are hard to track down.
This means the true mintage figure for these coins is not widely known, so it can’t be said how rare they are – making them a collector’s item.
How to spot and sell a rare coin
As Ben discovered, rare coins can fetch for multiple times their face value, but you might be wondering just how to spot one of the lucrative pieces.
You’ll know if a coin is rare and could fetch for potentially hundreds of pounds if it has a low mintage figure (the number of coins produced).
You can find this out on the Royal Mint’s website – this is the official maker of British coins.
But it’s not just about the coin’s mintage value and its design can influence how much it sells on for.
For example, in the past we’ve seen Olympic aquatic 50p coins sell for £1,500 on eBay.
And others have made £75 by selling their football-themed Olympic coin. Here’s the rarest and most valuable Olympic 50p coins.
When it comes to selling a rare coin, you can do it in a number of different ways.
First, and perhaps the safest way is by selling them at auction – you can do this by contacting The Royal Mint’s Collectors Service.
This is found on the Royal Mint’s website.
The Collectors Service has a team of experts who can help you authenticate and value your coin.
You can get in touch with them on the Royal Mint’s website.
Alternatively, you can sell them on eBay or Facebook, although this can come with risks.
A number of sellers have been targeted by scammers on Facebook Marketplace in the past.
Fraudsters tell you they’re planning to buy the item and ask for money upfront to cover the cost of a courier to pick it up.
But it’s all a scam and you send the free cash to them and they never pick your item up, leaving you out of pocket.
If you are buying off Facebook Marketplace, make sure you meet the buyer in the flesh so you know they’re legitimate.
Make sure it’s in a public and well-lit area too.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
You can also join our new Sun Money Facebook group to share stories and tips and engage with the consumer team and other group members.
This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk
