Turn 20p into £50 (or more)!

by Rachel Robson on 29 June 2009  |  1 comment
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Up to 200,000 20p coins have entered circulation without a date printed on them. And if you're lucky enough to find one, you could receive at least £50 for it!

As I was watching the news this morning in my bleary-eyed state, something successfully managed to catch my attention.

Apparently, thanks to a technical error at the Royal Mint, up to 200,000 20p coins have entered circulation without a date printed on them. And if you're lucky enough to find one, you could receive £50 for it!

The error in the coins occurred following the redesign of the 20p piece last year. The date, which had originally been on the tails side of the coin, was moved to the side of the Queen's head. But when some of the new coins were made, the old design of the Queen's head was used alongside the new tails design - meaning the date was completely forgotten about.

This is the first undated British coin to enter circulation in more than 300 years! As a result, it's thought that these coins will become a bit of a collectors' item.

In fact, if you happen to find one of these coins in your wallet (or on the street for that matter), the London Mint Office could offer you a rather tasty £50 in exchange! That's because the London Mint Office hopes to sell these coins on to collectors at an even higher price.

So get your wallets at the ready and have a good shake-out to hunt down any 20p pieces you may have. To be an undated 20p, it must have the new design on the front - and, on the back where the Queen's head is, the date will be missing. In other words, there's no date anywhere on the coin. You can see exactly what it should look like here.

If you're lucky enough to find one tucked away in your wallet, you should register with the London Mint Office. And don't delay, because only the first 10,000 registrations will be accepted.

Of course, you could simply hold onto your coin if you find one - and this could work in your favour. In fact, the Metro has already suggested that some experts reckon these coins could be worth £200 in ten years!  

Even better, you could try your luck on eBay - one fortunate seller has managed to fetch £7,100 for one coin! Now that can't be bad...

Happy hunting!