Morning all from a dull wet day in the South UK. My question is about registering error coins with the Royal Mint. As an example, let's take the much talked about 20p coin mule with no date error. These are being advertised at auction for silly money without any formal authentication. It seems that any Joe in the street who is fortunate to come across one, and with all the media hype, think they have won the lottery and are listing them at eBay for hundreds of thousands of pounds!! Having read a little more on this, and I have been informed that if you possess such a coin, and in fact any error coin, you should first register it with the Royal Mint (UK) and have it properly graded for value. Is this so? If so, are you issued with say a certificate or whatever? Look forward to your comments.
There is a company (not affiliated with the Royal Mint) called "The London Mint Office," which is buying them for £50 each. If you wish to sell one to them, they want you to "register" with them before sending it to them: "Sell yours for £50: To sell yours for £50 to The London Mint Office you MUST register with us FIRST. Our first 10,000 places are now all allocated but we have released a further 15,000 places so you should make your application without delay."
So you can register with the London Mint and sell them for 50 Pounds, or you can just list them on ebay where they have actually been selling for much more. (The Royal Mint makes coins and sells some to collectors, but they don't "register" them.) There is a former Royal Mint employee (Queens Assay Master, Royal Mint) that authenticates modern milled coinage, Robert Matthews. http://www.coinauthentication.co.uk/index.html
