Pound Coin With Rare Error Sells For £205 On eBay

The quid in question was missing the usual silver-coloured middle and instead had a gold colour all over.

The seller explained in the listing description that they 'work in a pub and got this in some change'.

But the punter who handed it over may regret doing so, because after 24 bids from five different bidders, the rare £1 sold on the online auctioning site on 8 August for more than £200.

It seems pretty amazing that people are willing to spend £205 on one dodgy pound, but there ya go, that's coin collectors I suppose. More money than sense.

As you can probably imagine, the Royal Mint churns out tonnes of dosh, so it is inevitable that mistakes occur from time to time - and they can be quite lucrative if you can spot them.

Kind of like an inverse fried egg really, given the edge's colour is more yolky and the centre more albumeny.

As well as dodgy coins, limited edition ones can of course be valuable too.

The limited edited coin has been hot stuff for currency collectors since its issue, often topping rare coin indexes.

The site said: "It's estimated that just 1 in 300 people are likely to come across the Kew Gardens.

"When you compare its scarcity to the average 5 million coins per design usually issued into circulation, you start to really understand just how rare this coin is."

Issued in 2009, the coin was designed by Christopher Le Brun, and it shows the gardens' pagoda encircled by a vine, along with the dates 1759 and 2009 and the word 'Kew' at the base of the structure.

Anyway, a more pressing currency matter affecting us all concerns £20 notes.

A new polymer note was issued last February, and we will no longer be able to use the old paper version from 30 September next year - the same goes for paper £50 notes, if you've ever been lucky enough to have one of those babies.

So keep your eyes on your cash folks.