Brits told 'stop spending' 20p coins and check for error worth £60

While these coins are considered "rare", they're not "impossible to find".

A coin expert has advised Brits to "stop spending" a specific coin without examining it first, as it could potentially be worth significantly more than its face value. This particular coin, due to an error, is estimated to be worth around £60.

The coin in question was produced in 2008. However, thousands were minted with a mistake that is highly coveted by collectors.

This error results in the affected coins not displaying any date. An expert known on the internet as the Coin Collecting Wizard advised: "Stop spending your 20p coins without checking them first because one from 2008 with no date is worth £60."

Typically, the date of a 2008 20p coin can be found on the reverse, or tails, side of the coin. He elaborated: "Normally, the date on a 20p is on the reverse right under the crown.

"But in 2008, something strange happened. A small number of 20ps were minted with a new obverse - the shield side paired with the old reverse Tudor rose but neither side has a date.

"This is what we call a mule error. When mismatched dies are used and this one slipped into circulation without anyone noticing."

While these coins are considered "rare", they're not "impossible to find", according to the expert. "Normally, 20p coins have the date on the back, but if you check and there's no date on either side, you might be holding the rare one," he said.

"These undated 20ps are rare but not impossible to find in average condition. They go for £60 plus. People are still finding them in their change even 15 years later."

The Royal Mint said on its website: "In November 2008, a number of 20p coins were incorrectly minted, resulting in the coins being undated. This problem affected less than 250,000 coins of the 136 million 20p pieces minted in 2008-09 and was due to the previous obverse (the 'heads' side) being used with the new reverse (the 'tails' side) design, meaning the year of issue did not feature at all.

"These coins remain legal tender and still have a face value of 20p." At the time of reporting, several of these 2008 misprinted 20p coins have appeared on eBay, with prices starting at £73.