Plymouth Gossip Girls/FacebookA woman in Plymouth has demonstrated her keen business acumen by trying to sell four 50p coins for one pound.
The seller insisted that she was selling the coins as a bundle, and therefore wanted to give the buyer a good deal – which she definitely was doing, if someone offered me £2 in exchange for £1, I would probably take it.
The coins in question were part of the Beatrix Potter collection from 2016, which celebrated 150 years since the author was born, featuring such well-known characters as Peter Rabbit, Jeremy Fisher, Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck.
The seller posted them on Facebook, saying:
Peter rabbit collection
2 Peter Rabbits
1 Jeremy Fisher
1 Tom Kitten
You can have this whole collection for just 1.00 seeing as there’s a double
Plymouth Gossip Girls/FacebookThe coins are still legal tender, so people were naturally confused as to why the woman was considering such a deal.
The seller added:
I will separate the bundle but will sell all 4 for £1 as there are 2 the same and when u sell bundles it’s always cheaper to make a good deal
One flabbergasted commenter said:
Why are you selling £2 for £1!?!?!? It’s like me selling you a £10 note and saying you can have it for a fiver!
The seller replied:
Because it’s a double peter rabbit
Another said:
Is this a joke…? It doesm’t matter if it’s double! you’re selling money for less than it’s worth!
Plymouth Gossip Girls/FacebookUnfortunately, it seems no one was aware of the real value of the coins.
As PlymouthLive reports, the first batch of Peter Rabbit coins entered circulation in March 2016, in a few locations on Britain, such as the Lake District, to commemorate the works of Beatrix Potter.
In 2017, the Royal Mint released four more Peter Rabbit coins, available only to buy online, followed by a few more in 2018.
The 2016 coins, however, have since become desirable objects among coin collectors. Shortly after their initial release, one Peter Rabbit coin sold on eBay for £5,000, while another sold for £3,200.
Currently, you can get a ‘rare half whisker Peter Rabbit’ 50p coin, from 2016, for £800 on eBay, while another ambitious seller is selling the ssame coin for £1,500.
Meanwhile, the whole 2018 colour set of Beatrix Potter coins will set you back £350.
If you’re thinking of taking up coin collecting, the American Numismatic Association offers some useful tips:
Education – The most successful coin collectors take time to learn as much as they can about numismatics. They not only study coins but the dynamics of the market as well.
Patience – We live in an era of immediate gratification. New collectors often have the urge to jump in very quickly and complete their sets as fast as they can. The best coin collections are built over the course of many years.
Quality Not Quantity – Let’s say that you have a coin budget of $20,000 per year. I would suggest that you purchase four or five really nice $4000-$5000 coins each year than twenty $1000 pieces. The coin market of the future will be even more predicated on quality than it already is. High quality coins will become harder to find and, consequently, more expensive.
I’m sure the seller of the Peter Rabbit coins will invest her £1 wisely.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.