Error 2008 English Five Pence Coin

Hi,

I'm based in England and I found in my change yesterday an English 2008 5p coin (Shield of the Royal Arms design) which I believe is an error coin. This is because when I orient the tails side in the correct direction (the orientation that allows me to read the words "Five Pence", or north to south), when I then rotate the coin 180 degrees horizontally, the Queen's head is at 90 degrees to the right rather than upwards or mirroring the tails side (the upwards orientation is the correct orientation of normal 5p coins, and in fact of all English denominations currently in circulation).

I believe this is an error, and I am aware that a similar error coin where the Queen's head is upside down relative to the tails side is a valuable coin among collectors. Please let me know if I have not been clear enough in my description of the coin. I have attached two photos at the bottom of this post that show both the tails side and the heads side, with a pen above the coin pointing downwards to help indicate what the correct orientation of both sides should be.

I am aware that some people may want evidence that I did not simply turn a correct 5p piece to the right to make it seem like the orientation of the heads side was incorrect, so I am happy to send anyone a very short seven-second video in which I turn the coin over 180 degrees horizontally from the correctly oriented tails side to the misaligned heads side.

HS1

It is called a die rotation error, where the Obverse and Reverse dont align as intended, in this case in Medal alignment.

It is not uncommon, but not overly common. Of course to provide evidence of such rotation errors, you need to take a decent image using a mirror to clearly show both obverse and reverse at the same time. Nice find, I like a little rotation error.

Thanks for responding King. 

How much would you say this coin is worth if I were to try selling it? 

HS1

50p - £2

Coin mintage = high (so common)

Coin Size = small (so not desirable)

Coin material = copper nickel (so non valuable)

Coin age = modern (so available)

Coin Error = rotation (awkwardly visible)

I know this is not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth, above factors coupled with the fact that error coin collecting is a sub genre of Numismatics (meaning less collectors buying), it isnt the holy grail. I like errors, I hold them if i see them, but I have never paid to buy them - many collectors do the same.

I hope you add this to your collection, learn about other cultures, history, coin minting processes (and thus errors) all in the pursuit of your growing hobby. Find a 90ø rotation error on a Kew Gardens 50p and then it will be worth something.

Hello and welcome to Numista.  The error you have is well known for this coin for 2008.  I'm not sure what was going on but enough of them were made that there's a comment on the coin page about it and even a seperate year line (unusual) for them. This suggests there won't be much added value but you should be able to find some on ebay (completed sales only) to get an idea of what they are selling for.

N#6612

That's ok, thanks guys!

Hi guys, just thought you might be interested to know that I put the 5p with the die rotation on eBay just on the off chance that someone might want it, and someone bought it for £17.57! Wasn't expecting that :)