Rare coin could be worth £200,000 – how to spot if you have it

Coin collectors are on the hunt for a rare British coin which could be worth a small fortune.

The 1952 proof penny, featuring King George VI, is one of the last of the coins struck with his cipher before his death in February of that year.

Proof pennies are early samples of a particular coin which are usually of higher quality than coins in general circulation.

And this particular one could be worth £200,000, with one example going under the hammer and selling for the huge sum recently.

Online expert the Coin Collecting Wizard took to TikTok to explain: ‘This is a UK penny from 1952.

‘This intriguing proof coin is the rarest proof penny of the entire series of copper and bronze pennies.

‘It wasn’t known that these pennies existed until one came to auction almost 30 years ago.

‘A lovely example went up for auction recently and sold for £200,000. So it is 100% a coin to look out for.’

Pre-decimal pennies are 31mm in size and are cast in bronze.

The 1952 proof penny is identifiable with King George VI’s profile on one face, featuring the Latin legend ‘GEORGIVS VI D: G: BR: OMN: REX FIDEI DEF’.

On the reverse Britannia is seated with heraldic shield and trident with the words ‘ONE PENNY 1952’.

The Sovereign Rarities website calls the coin ‘the rarest proof penny of the entire series of copper and bronze pennies’, and nobody knew it existed until one appeared at auction 45 years after it was struck.

When the first 1952 proof penny went to auction in 1997 it sold for £23,468 – worth just under £45,000 in today’s money.

Specialised reference books did not list a 1952 Penny as proof or currency and it was thought that ‘no pennies dated 1952 were struck’.

But Sovereign Rarities explains: ‘The British Numismatic world was astonished to see this coin appear at auction on October 13, 1997, an auction that drew on coins selected from the famed “basement” stock cache of rare and unusual coins belonging to then family business.

‘This proof coin appeared for sale as lot 67 at the auction with the following one-line description “George VI, Proof Penny 1952. Spot on reverse, otherwise mint state and believed unique” with a mere footnote to say “There was no currency issue of this date”.

‘It is perhaps understandable that the George VI 1952 proof penny remains a unique piece, as the King died very early in 1952.

‘Only the smaller denominations of currency coins that were in great demand were struck for circulation in 1952, with the larger denominations omitted in anticipation of a new reign and a new coinage for Queen Elizabeth II.

‘The only mass-produced currency coins dated 1952 are the Sixpence which is rare, brass Threepence, Halfpenny and Farthing.’

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