A man who was given an ultra-rare 25p piece in his change has seen the coin sell at auction for thousands of times its face value.
The ultra rare coin is thought to be one of only around 50 that are in circulation. This particular coin is even rarer, as it is made of nickel brass, unlike most of the others.
Experts think the coin was made by the Royal Mint before the 20p coin was released in 1982 and sent to officials and businesses to try out, this is probably how a few of them ended up in general circulation.
“It looks like a 20p coin but it's actually a 25p trial piece minted in 1981 when the Royal Mint were considering minting a new coin with a value of 25p,” RWB Auctions in Royal Wootton Bassett said in a clip on their social media.
“There wouldn't have been a lot of these made. They would have been made as experimental pieces to see if they could mint them for circulation and that they would actually work in machines that take coins like vending machines or parking meters.
“In the UK we ended up making a 20p coin instead of a 25p coin, but this is a glimpse of what could have been.”
The coin sold at £2,100, RWB Auctions said, advising people to check their change for unusual coins.
YouTuber Christopher Collects, who works for RWB Auctions, called the piece “fascinating”.
He told the BBC : “20p coins are a fixture in our change now, but the Royal Mint seems to have experimented with various ideas before they settled on the seven-sided coin we all recognise.
“Trial pieces would have been used to demonstrate the concept of a new coin to officials and may have been sent out to businesses that handle lots of cash to try out."
The auction house, which opened in January, previously sold a £2 coin featuring Lord Kitchener
For £2 and an unusual 50p celebrating the Olympics fetched a price of £1,500 in another auction.