Mum finds ‘squashed’ new £1 coin — and it could be highly valuable
Kelly Rose was raiding her piggy-bank to get some cash together to pay her car insurance when she came across the misshapen quid
A MUM was surprised to discover a misshapen new £1 coin in her change, and it be worth a pretty penny.
Kelly Rose was raiding her piggy-bank to get some cash together to pay her car insurance when she came across the squashed quid.
Kelly told The Sun: "I went to raid my piggy bank where I put it and I pulled it out and was like, 'oh that's a bit weird'.
"Then I had a proper look at it, and you can tell its not been cut properly and it looks like the machine's been misaligned.
"Because part of the writing which says 'one pound' is in silver when it should all be in gold.
The 25-year-old full time mum-of-two from Weymouth, Dorset said she was handed the coin when she was out shopping in the town but didn't notice at time she received it in change.
"I noticed it when I was raiding my piggy bank for money for my car insurance."
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A spokesperson from the Royal Mint after looking at photos of the squashed coinage told The Sun: "The Royal Mint produces around five billion coins each year, and will be striking 1.5bn new £1 coins in total.
"As you would expect, we have tight quality controls in place, however variances will always occur in a small number of coins, particularly in the striking process, due to the high volumes and speed of production."
Earlier this week the Royal Mint admitted that the "forged" £1 coin found by a charity worker is the result of a production glitch - as experts claim it could be worth more than a quid.
Roy Wright was shocked when he noticed the coin's defects, believing it to be a forgery, but it is now thought to be a misprint and there could be more out there.
New £1 coins with reported defects are already being posted on eBay as it's suggested collectors will be willing to pay far more than their face value.
Previous misprints, including misprinted 20ps from 2008, have fetched more than 250 times their face value.
WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU'VE GOT A RARE COIN
Firstly, you need to make sure the coin is legit and not counterfeit. The Royal Mint is unable to value a coin but it can confirm whether it is real or not.
They will usually supply you with a letter to confirm this. Once you’ve found out whether the coin is real or not, you have a number of options - either selling it through a coin dealer, at auction or on eBay.
If you want to sell the coin you’ve found in your spare change on eBay then you need to know the risks.
Remember to set a minimum price that is higher or at the very least equal to the face value of the coin.
Even if your coin “sells” on eBay for a high price there’s no guarantee that the buyer will cough out.
It its terms and conditions, the auction website states that bidders enter a “legally binding contract to purchase an item”, but there’s no way to enforce this rule in reality.
For more information about what to do if you've found a rare coin, read our guide.
Numismatist Dominic Chorney told the Daily Telegraph, earlier this week: "Mis-strikes have been valuable in the past, though it is difficult to gauge a value in this case since this is the first piece to come to light."
The value of misprinted £1 coins will depend on how many are revealed to be in circulation - and how valuable it is deemed by collectors.
The new 12-sided piece only came into circulation last month with the Royal Mint proudly announcing it was "forgery proof" and the world's most secure coin.
The new coin is meant to feature a hologram at the bottom which shows a £ symbol and the number one depending on the light.
There is also a secret high-security feature built into the coin designed to protect it from counterfeiting.
The new pounds were introduced amid reports that as many as one in every 30 old pound coins were counterfeit.
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