Tuesday 29 September 2009

The last time an undated coin entered circulation in the UK....

....This last happened over 300 years ago in the year 1672 under the reign of Charles II.

In 2008 when the Royal Mint were manufacturing the redesigned British coinage the mistake was made on a batch of 20p pieces. The old 20p had the date on the 'tails' side of the coin on the same side as the denomination(20) where there was no date on the side of Queen Elizabeth II's head, the mistake was made in the process of shifting the date to the heads side where the coins were minted using the old version of the coin for the heads side which resulted in the batch of dateless 20p coins.

These coins have become rarer since news broke of the significance of this Royal Mint error which will have potentially a significant impact on future values if it hasn't already with some people listing them for sale in the millions.

Even though London Mint(no association to Royal Mint) have made a highly publicised offer of £50 each to anyone who is willing to cash in. London Mint are a private company therefore will not be buying these for £50 en masse if there wasn't a huge profit to be made. Think about it why advertise so widely and why are they in business? To answer these questions is simply a no brainer.

How much is an undated 20p worth?
Well to answer that it's how much do you think and feel they are worth.
There are people out there willing to pay in the hundreds and thousands possibly millions.

In previous posts I have commented on the ebay listings for the 20p coin , today there are 505 listings covering 11 pages and without trawling through the whole list have seen one listing for the undated 20p coin for £million .

I will keep posting the number of listings I see on ebay for the undated 20p coin here randomly and it will make an interesting picture on how long there will be listings for undated 20p coins on ebay.

Long live the undated 20p coin.

Wednesday 23 September 2009

Undated 20p on ebay Sept 23

Hi All,

I decided to check up on the ebay listings to see how many search results were returned for the search term "undated 20p" and on today's count is less than when I posted on Sunday.

Today's count for the undated 20p on ebay equals 427 results over 9 pages.

Are we now seeing a downward trend on the number of undated 20p pieces for sale?

Will check in a few days time and post again.

Best Wishes!

David.

Sunday 20 September 2009

Undated 20p on ebay(the latest)

Hi All,

I thought I would take a look on ebay on Sunday 20th September 2009 to check out the current interest in the undated 20p coin.

Well, I have to say the interest in the undated 20p phenomenon hasn't waned.

This is so evident on entering "undated 20p" in the Find search box ,the number of pages this search returns is 13 equating to 606 results.

Just think 606 listings for an undated 20p coin three months after the story broke into the national newspapers.

Like I've said in my earlier posts here, my one is tucked in the drawer but I still live in hope no matter how futile of finding another one as I examine every 20p that lands in my change... but inevitably no luck so other than the 13 pages of listings on ebay the scarcity factor has kicked in in one sense at least.

I await the day a coin collector comes knocking with a handsome sum for my undated 20p but it's looking like I'll be waiting for a while longer.

Best Wishes!

David.

Monday 14 September 2009

Undated 20p- What makes it special?

Hello,

The undated 20p coin that slipped by the Royal Mint's stringent Quality Control and into circulation following the 2008 redesign is significant for the following reasons-

This is the first undated British coin to enter circulation for over 300 years.
The last time this happened was in 1672.

Redesigns of UK coins generally happens once every 40 years.

Since the news of the Royal Mint error broke in June/July 2009 the chance of finding one of these in circulation is decreasing by the day.

Also the London Mint have been offering £50 each for one of these coins. The London Mint are not associated with The Royal Mint they are a private enterprise and their site gives a lot of information on the significance of the undated 20p coin -

http://www.undated20p.com/

Well if the London Mint is willing ot offer £50 each for one of these then as a business they are not buying these en masse to make a loss so they have to be worth a considerable amount more. Also the rarity value of one the undated 20p coin increases as they buy more and more of these coins off people.

Taking a look at ebay , there are still several pages dedicated to listings of people selling their undated 20p so for that reason I have refrained from listing it for sale there and it looks like I'll be keeping mine for the long term.

Best Wishes!
David.

Thursday 3 September 2009

Undated 20p going for £10 million....

Hello,

Two posts in one day on this topic but it has to be done because I have seen the highest priced listing so far for an undated 20p coin offered for sale on ebay:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNDATED-20p-COIN-UNDATED-BOTH-SIDE-UK-MULE-MINT-COND_W0QQitemZ290344322002QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Coins_BritishDecimal_RL?hash=item4399dec3d2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Not expecting anyone to pay that amount for one but strange things happen at sea.

Best Wishes!

David.

How to identify an undated 20p

Hello Again,

I have realised it's almost a month since I last posted which admittedly isn't good.

However, I hope this post makes up for it in that I can clarify what to look for to those seeking an undated 20p coin.

To begin with, the mistake the Royal Mint made is that they failed to date a batch of 2008 redesigned 20p coins.
Quoting the obvious maybe, but first of all the intended spot for the date on the 2008 redesign is on the heads side bottom right hand side under the F.D marking.

The old 20p that were made from the con's inception in 1982 to 2008 before the redesign all have the date on the middle on the tails side.

So please be wary of those listed on ebay with the images of only the tails side - THE TAILS SIDE ON THE 2008 REDISIGNED COIN IS SUPPOSED TO BE DATELESS AND TO QUALIFY AS AN UNDATED COIN THE DATE MUST ALSO BE MISSING ON THE HEADS SIDE.

Do not know if it's laziness but I still haven't listed my undated 20p coin on ebay.

Best Wishes!

David.