Listen to a clip below, and hear the entire episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify for the full story.Living close by to the mint, it was easy to get my hands on one of these uncirculated coins. The Which? Money Podcast spoke to members of the London Numismatic Club, a longstanding organisation of coin enthusiasts, and professional treasure evaluator David Guest about whether people should invest in coins. This means they are unlikely to hold their value as well as actual gold bullion - which is considered a solid investment. But as a Which? Money investigation revealed, they can be marked up by large amounts. Often, retailers highlight that these coins have gold and silver content. On top of this, the Royal Mint, and other coin sellers, sell collectors edition versions of commemorative coins for hundreds of pounds each. But if you're paying money for one, it could be risky. If you're just saving a 50p you have found in your change, the stakes are pretty low. In most cases, experts tell us, it isn't. Since people who held onto a Kew Gardens 50p will have made such a profit, it's natural to think buying a potentially 'rare' 50p might be a good investment.

Your data will be processed in accordance with our Privacy policy The risks of investing in coins This newsletter delivers free money-related content, along with other information about Which? Group products and services. There are coins that sell for more than this, but there's a big step down from the Kew Gardens 50p to its nearest rival, the Olympic football 50p which sells for just over £10. Despite their rarity, these coins appear to generally sell for just over £1 on eBay. Though tens of millions of them have been minted in other years, only 1.8 million were minted two years ago. The second-rarest by mintage is the fairly innocuous 2017 Royal Shield 50p. The coin itself is in high demand from collectors, and it can sell for over £100 online. Only 210,000 were minted, in contrast to the millions that are minted for most designs.

Originally minted in 2009, people didn't realise how scarce this coin was until circulation figures were revealed years later.

Find out more: Royal Mint brings back rare 50psīy far, the rarest and most desirable 50p in circulation is the Kew Gardens coin.

Though many of these coins were popular, not all of them are considered among the rarest. A large collection of images displayed on this page are available at

50p collectables