Yahoo Finance Rare 5 cent coin worth $2,000 uncovered by 10-year-old as expert reveals state Aussies most likely to find one
A printing error produced a few thousand of these coins and they are worth thousands.
An Aussie family has been shocked that a coin that's been sitting in their home for years was worth thousands of dollars. There are billions of coins in circulation at the moment and some carry a hefty price tag because of tiny details that make them stand out from your run-of-the-mill coin.
There were several thousand 5 cent coins made in 2007 that have an image of Queen Elizabeth II on both sides. Mark from Australian coin collector site The Purple Penny told Yahoo Finance they've come across a few of these over the years, particularly from New South Wales.
"This one here is interesting because it was found by a 10-year-old boy in about 2012 when he was playing with money out of the out of his parents money box," he said.
Have you found an extremely rare coin? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com
"He was stacking coins up and playing with them and then realised this coin had two heads on it.
"His parents put it to one side and they brought it into the shop here a couple of months ago to sell it so that they can give him the money as a gift."
When Mark revealed the 5 cent piece could be sold for $2,000, the couple couldn't believe their ears.
"They were very pleased," Mark added. 'They weren't expecting as much as what they got."
He explained that this coin is worth so much because there's a tiny supply of these 5 cent pieces that were affected by a printing error.
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Up until very recently, almost every coin in Australia had a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the head side and a design on the tail side. For a coin to have two heads is extremely rare, especially one like this.
"Over the years, the price of these has sort of gradually increased from a few $100 to thousands of dollars," Mark explained to Yahoo Finance.
"This one is what we call almost uncirculated so that means that it hasn't been in circulation for very long and doesn't have much wear, so it's as close to new as you can get without being new."
Mark said coins like this won't be found in everyone's money box.
"I know of a guy in the south of Adelaide who's looked through probably nearly a million 5-cent pieces and he's never found one," he said. "So your chances are pretty small."
Check your change
While this specific coin might be harder to find than a four-leaf clover, there are other rare coins to be on the lookout for that can be worth loads of money.
A $1 coin recently went under the hammer for $2,800 as it was printed on a ten-cent blank in error. The sale price was far higher than the auction house’s $750 estimate for the uncirculated coin.
Coin expert Jim Noble told Yahoo Finance the Mint will usually keep those misprinted coins, but some manage to make their way to the public.
“To find a coin like the 10-cent piece struck on a 5-cent blank, that is quite rare. But, they can be found in circulation,” he said.
“There was a case of two of these error coins turning up more than one at a time.
“You should look at your change … you might have something.”
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