Coin Videos

This video is a bit dry in its presentation but brings out some great information about not only the undated 20p coin, but also about the scams and the fraud that the frenzy over the undated coin created. Even if you are not interested in the 20p, the time spent watching the video is well spent just to keep yourself aware of what some unscrupulous or sometimes un-informed sellers might try to get away with.

The 20p coins in question were struck at Britain's Royal Mint in November of 2008. Evidently, the obvserse (heads side) design that had been used previously was paired with a newly designed reverse (tails side) which resulted in a coin that had no date mark. On the older coins, the date mark was on the reverse, but when it was re-designed, the date was due to be switched to the obverse. Pairing the two different version resulted in the ommission of the date.

Less than 250 thousand of the approximately 136 million 20p coins minted in 2008 and 2009 feature the mis-matched sides creating an interest in the oddity most had not expected. The London Mint almost immediately began offering £50 for each valid coin it could find. This, however, was nothing compared to what prices were being fetched through other markets like eBay.

"Here we see some silly, ridiculous high prices having been paid for the genuine undated 20p coins," the narrator states as images of eBay auction pages show on the screen.

Sample prices for one 20p coin range from to £3,000.00 to £5,800.00, with one auction even closing at £1,000,000. Even more disturbing is the mis-representations of coins that entice bidders to buy normal coins for outrageous prices thinking they are rare or undated.

Do yourself a favor and watch this video.

Resources

• UK 20p Undated Error Coins
• Faulty 20p coins 'worth £50 each'