New Gruffalo 50p Coin Could Be Worth Thousands, Experts Say

The coin, depicting the Gruffalo's Child character has gone on sale to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Gruffalo’s child story released in 2004.

A new 50p coin is up for sale to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Gruffalo's Child story.

The coin, which depicts the Gruffalo's Child character, has gone on sale to mark two decades since the much-loved tale was published in 2004.

To celebrate the anniversary of the original Gruffalo story, which was released in 1999, two 50p tributes were also released - and some people are already flogging them on online auction sites.

The new coins were designed by Magic Light Pictures, The Sun reports.

The company created the films of the series, which were originally written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

Rare coins can quickly go up in value and make people a tidy profit.

The Sun reports that the Royal Mint sold the 2019 Gruffalo coin for £10 - but one coin was sold for £26 on eBay in August.

Oliver Miller, managing director of Bishop & Miller auctioneers, told the newspaper: "With the release of the new Gruffalo 50p, people will ask me whether it's an investment or not.

"What it comes down to is how many are minted - if it’s a low mint it’s worth more as the rarity goes up, if a huge amount are minted, these are worth less.

"The other factor is how popular will they be. I would say as a father of two fans of the Gruffalo these will be popular and could prove to be a nice little investment.”

The cheapest and uncoloured version of the new Gruffalo coin is on sale on the Royal Mint website for £12.

A colour version costs £21 while a silver proof colour coin is £75.

The gold proof coin, meanwhile, is £99.50.

The Gruffalo's Child isn't the only children's book character on special coins this year.

Earlier this month, the Royal Mint revealed The Snowman is being depicted on a new Royal Mint coin - with a gold version hidden in one of its advent calendars for someone to discover on Christmas Eve.

To further celebrate the launch of The Snowman 2024 collectable 50p, the Mint has hidden a solid gold coin behind door 24 in one limited-edition The Snowman advent calendar, offering someone the chance of “striking gold”.

The Snowman 50p coin is available in a range of precious metal finishes, including colour editions, on the Royal Mint’s website, with prices starting at £12.

It will not be entering general circulation.

The coin celebrates Raymond Briggs’ picture book with a new design created by Robin Shaw, who was art director on The Snowman And The Snowdog, the sequel to the original television adaptation.

Printing errors and other strange occurrences can result in odd coins that become valuable.

In 2014, a £2 coin featuring Lord Kitchener was issued with a printing error.

There are believed to be around 800 versions of the coin that have the error on.