The sought-after coins have a special bee design (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

New King Charles £1 coin could be worth £1,000 if you spot this error

by · Birmingham Live

A minting mishap could prove lucrative for those who find a particular £1 coin in their loose change. An error on the coins, which feature King Charles III, means collectors may cough up around £1,000 to snap one up.

The sought-after coins have a special bee design - but were completely golden, missing the standard design feature of a silver centre. The Coin Collector UK, who has more than 145,000 TikTok followers, has explained what to look out for.

The enthusiast said: "Check all your bee pound coins. Brand new bee £1 coins entered circulation just last month and an extremely rare error has been discovered within a month. The error was spotted by a Post Office worker after a delivery of the new coins reached the general public."

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They told their 145,000 followers: "They noticed an all-gold pound coin that had clearly been minted by mistake. Our 12-sided one pound coins are supposed to be gold only around the edge, with a circular silver cupronickel part in the middle."

Although none of these misprinted coins have hit the auction block yet, bids could potentially soar to more than £1,000. The coin expert concluded: "Errors like this are often snapped up by error collectors, and they aren't cheap. They sell potentially for hundreds of pounds, due to their rarity and also the fact that they should not even exist in the first place. The exact price this would sell for is unknown."

The Daily Star reports that the bee design was part of a new collection of coins "inspired by Britain’s natural habitat". The Royal Mint unveiled them in early October, with each design "highlighting His Majesty King Charles III’s passion for conservation and the natural world".