A NEW 50p coin has been officially crowned the rarest in circulation and experts have revealed tips to track them down.
The King Charles III coin has knocked the Kew Gardens 50p off the top spot by the Atlantic Salmon silver.
The coin was struck to highlight the plight of the species of fish, whose population is in decline.
The 50p piece started entering general circulation at the end of 2023 as part of a new series of coins marking the ascension of King Charles to the throne.
Up until now, The Royal Mint, the official maker of British coins, has yet published confirmed figures on how many of the Atlantic Salmon were put into circulation.
However, it has now revealed 200,000 were sent to banks and post offices across the UK at the end of last year.
TikTok account Change Checkers shared the exciting news with its followers.
“Change checkers, we have some extremely exciting news to share with you. Britain has a new rarest 50p coin,” it wrote.
“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!”
“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.”
There were 210,000 Kew Gardens 50p coins put into circulation 15 years ago which has made it the rarest of the 50ps for over a decade.
But the latest mintage figures from The Royal Mint show its spot has now been taken by the Atlantic Salmon 50p.
Rebecca Morgan, director of commemorative coins at The Royal Mint said: “The releasing of mintage figures is an eagerly anticipated event among the coin collecting community – and this year is particularly exciting as we reveal the Atlantic Salmon as the rarest 50p in circulation.
“For the first time in 15 years, the highly collectable Kew Gardens 50p loses its top spot as the rarest in circulation with the Atlantic Salmon 50p splashing its way to number one.”
Collectors have already been finding the Atlantic Salmon 50p piece hard to come by, with some willing to pay over the odds to get their hands on one.
Plenty of sellers on eBay have found theirs going for multiple times their face value.
In one recent listing, someone managed to sell one of the coins for £51, over 100 times the face value of the piece.
The coin sparked a fierce bidding war, with 23 buyers putting an offer in.
Rare coins have been known to sell for thousands of pounds in the past with collectors keen to snap them up.
A coin is considered rare usually if it falls into one of two categories – having a low mintage or being an “error” coin.
The mintage of a coin relates to how many of it were struck and put into general circulation.
