“Exceptionally rare” $1 coin can be worth thousands more than its face value

Only a small handful of the coins are thought to be in existence, with one going under the hammer this week.

An "exceptionally rare" $1 coin could be worth thousands more than its face value because of an error made when it was struck.

Only a small handful of the coins are thought to be in existence, with one going under the hammer this week.

A 1984 $1 coin with the same 10-cent planchet error sold for $2,800 last year after being auctioned off by Noble Numismatics.

It comes after a 1972 Small Commonwealth Games $10 coin sold for a record-breaking $75,000 at auction in March.

The coins went to auction with a price guide of between $2,000 and $3,000 this week, sold by auctioneers Roxburys Auction House.

"It is a 10-cent planchet that was used to strike the Commonwealth Games $1 coin and it is a coin that is in common circulation. It is used to make 10 cents coins and they've put it into the $1 coin and it's come out in the Commonwealth Games $1 coin,” explained Charles Benisty, auctioneer at Roxburys Auction House, told Yahoo Finance.

“It is a very interesting error and it's exceptionally rare. Maybe 10 to 20 is pretty accurate in terms of how many of this exact type would be around.”

Errors, the reason why they’re interesting, cool, desirable and rare is because they happen by accident, he said.

"They're not supposed to be there. So they're not planned. They're not made in a mint in another country and they're not brought out in a new series. They just happen by accident and that's what makes them so rare and collectable."

Earlier this year, a "bullseye" $2 coin sold for a whopping $4,100 at auction.

The coin, which was struck in 1998 and features a unique misalignment, is thought to be one of only three in existence. It was sold by auction house, Coinworks, and had a price guide of $3,000 to $5,000.

The coin's error lies in the alignment of the inner and outer rings of the coin's design. In most cases, the two rings are perfectly aligned, but in this particular coin, the inner ring is slightly offset from the outer ring. This creates a unique "bullseye" effect.

According to Benisty, coins with this type of error are "very rare" to see.

"It is a 10-cent planchet that was used to strike the Commonwealth Games $1 coin and it is a coin that is in common circulation. It is used to make 10 cents coins and they've put it into the $1 coin and it's come out in the Commonwealth Games $1 coin. It is a very interesting error and it's exceptionally rare. Maybe 10 to 20 is pretty accurate in terms of how many of this exact type would be around.”