Check your 20p pieces NOW as rare minting error could land you £80

An expert has called for a thorough check of wallets and coin collections for a seemingly ordinary 20 pence piece that could be worth as much as £80.

An ordinary-looking 20p coin could be hiding in your wallet and it might just be worth a small fortune.

At first glance, this coin might not catch your eye, but it harbours a simple minting error that has made it highly coveted by collectors throughout the UK.

Some enthusiasts even refer to it as the "holy grail" of coins.

Remarkably, fewer than a quarter of a million of these coins were produced in 2008, which means you might just find one among your loose change.

Now, an expert has called for a thorough check of your coin collections and wallets for this seemingly ordinary 20p piece that could be worth as much as £80.

Sharing his insights on the social media platform TikTok, an individual known as the Coin Collecting Wizard shed light on the matter: "Your shield 20 pence coin could be worth £50."

The value of these coins hinges on a particular flaw - the absence of a date.

He elaborated: "It's all to do with a die mix-up at the Royal Mint, causing the coin to have no date."

"This issue impacted less than 250,000 coins out of the 136 million 20p pieces minted in 2008 and was a result of pairing the old obverse, or heads side, with the new reverse, or tails side design, which led to the omission of the year of issue," he explained, reports the Mirror.

The coin enthusiast also highlighted the significant demand for these rare pieces: "Considered by many as one of the holy grails of UK change collecting, the undated 20p is always at the top of any coin collector's wish list," he remarked.

The Royal Mint has made history by confirming that for the first time in over three centuries, a coin has been released into circulation without a date, sparking immense interest among numismatists.

This undated 20p piece has become highly desirable, with some sellers on eBay fetching £79.99 for the coin, while others have completed transactions at around £50.

Highlighting the coin's value, he remarked: "As you can see from these eBay sold prices, the undated 20p is an easy sell for around £50, so always make sure to check those 20p coins."

The Royal Mint addressed the anomaly, stating: "In November 2008 a number of 20p coins were incorrectly minted, resulting in the coins being undated. These coins remain legal tender and still have a face value of 20p."

At the time of writing, some listings on eBay had placed the value of these unique coins as high as £150 and £125.