Coin collectors need to have the instincts of a hunter. 

While a lot of the rarest coins are very known quantities, not all are.

Coins are produced in huge numbers and handled by everyone.

Rarities - including errors that make it into circulation - could be anywhere. 

Change checking is a good habit to get into if you’re a coin collector.

Modern, circulating rarities are vanishingly rare, but they do exist.

And any coin collector worth their salt will have their antenna twitching if they see a bag of mixed old coins for sale.

They have to be worth checking!

Here are five rarities you just might find.

50p Kew Gardens, 2009

One of the best known modern rarities is well worth looking out for.

This is a well-known modern rarity and it is certainly worth checking your change for.

You’ll be lucky to find one though.

They’re valuable because they’re rare. Just 210,000 were produced by the Royal Mint.

Why?

It’s a matter of supply and demand (this is an important factor in the rarity of several famous coins), and in 2009 not many new 50ps were needed.

So, this lovely design (by Christopher Le Brun) was an immediate collectible.

Its prettiness meant that many casual collectors immediately added it to their collections, taking even more out of circulation.

As a modern, low-value mass circulation coin the Kew Gardens 50p is a real standout in coin collecting.

You should be able to get several hundred pounds for one if you do discover it.

S-Error Dimes

You can get several hundred dollars for these modern errors. Hundreds of thousands for the right year. 

This is quite a large category of coins that are still very low in number, but that may be out there in the world and is comparatively modern.

An S-error dime is up for sale now (October 2024) and may get to $500,000.

The story is simple.

The US has historically had several producing mints, and they have usually stamped a letter on each coin minted to mark where it came from.

In the 1960s the San Francisco mint stopped producing coins regularly, but was reopened from 1968 producing almost entirely proof coins.

The dies for these coins were made in Philadelphia (the US’s largest mint) and sent to San Francisco.

A repeated error - what are they playing at in Philly! - has seen several dies sent without the identifying S mark.

Proof sets are made for sale to collectors rather than general circulation, so they’re already a minor (though rarely hugely valuable) rarity.

Those sets with a coin missing the S mark can be enormously valuable.

We know the error was made in 1968 on dimes, in 1970 on dimes, on 1971 nickels, on 1975 and 1983 dimes. Lincoln cents in 1990 were also struck without the S.

How many?

The errors are spotted quickly, but if coins get out of the mint door it can mean that an unknown number have been produced.

So, we have the 1975 Roosevelt dime selling now for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Two examples of this dime are known, and they were both sold to the same person.

It’s possible, but very unlikely that there are more.

The numbers of the other “missing S” coins are small but not known: “dozens” or “hundreds”.

How to find them?

If you see a proof set of US coins - the sort of thing you buy in a presentation pack - and it’s from those dates, it’s worth checking it out. It’s possible that the owners of such coins - you might give one to a child as a birth gift, for example - have no idea what they are and they could be undervalued.

1869 Bun Head Penny

This example is from 1891 and all Bun-Head pennies are worth checking.

My grandmother had plenty of Victorian pennies which we used as play money.

They remained in circulation till the 1960s, and in total were produced in many millions.

Some, however, are relatively rare and therefore valuable, particularly if they’ve survived in good condition.

The “bun head” (yes, it’s the hairstyle) design was introduced in 1860 (with a mintage of over 5 million) using a new portrait of Victoria by Leonard Charles Wyon. (Wyon’s father William was the engraver behind the Young Head that is featured on all Victorian stamps and most Victorian coins.)

Though the term “copper” is still used for small change, this coin marks the start of bronze low-value coinage in the UK.

This design was issued into circulation until 1894. Most years 10s of millions were issued, but some years saw smaller mintages because of demand fluctuations, and some of these are valuable in good condition.

Look out for 1868 and 1869 years, but it’s worth checking prices online if you come across any bun head penny and any bulk purchase of coins or antique shop find is worth checking for them, it might even be worth thousands.

2007 Grace Kelly 2 Euro Monaco

Grace Kelly was the ultimate princess and this commemorative coin can sell for 5,000 Euros or more. 

Europe is very big. Euros are very rarely rare.

Monaco is very small. And it does issue its own Euros.

In 2007, a 2 Euro coin was issued to commemorate Princess Grace (the former Hollywood actor Grace Kelly), who had died aged just 52 in a car crash in 1982.

This 25th anniversay coin was struck in an incredibly small run of just over 20,000 coins.

It’s a nice looking coin and was immediately collectible.

However, it’s a perfectly normal circulating coin and might find its way to you in any number of ways.

If you do find one it could be worth several thousand pounds.

1969 double strike Lincoln penny

Your eye site is fine, the error on this coin is very visible and that adds value.

Just a cent. Barely worth having really.

But some modern cents are extremely valuable.

For example, the 1983 coins that marked the transition from copper to zinc-cored coins.

And this 1969 undiscovered error.

This is a great example of the rewards of paying attention.

The double-die error wasn’t spotted until the 1990s. “A few dozen” is the likely number of these errors. But they went into circulation.

Though it took a while to find its way into the collecting world, the error is actually quite visible, and that gives it an extra attraction to collectors.

As low-value coins in use for many decades condition is very key here.

The example that sold for over $125,000 in 2005 was given a condition rating of MS64 - a “mint state” grading on the 70-point Sheldon scale.

But, any Lincoln cent you see is worth checking.

Just in case.

Find rare coins today

We hold a considerable stock of rare and valuable historic coins for sale.

You can see a small number of examples on our website.

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