A rare 1p coin is expected to sell at auction for more than £200,000 as Brits have been warned to be aware of the value of their coins.

Coin collecting is a hugely popular hobby, and if you are lucky enough to come into ownership of a sought-after coin you could be sitting on a small fortune.

That is the case for the owner of a 1p coin from 1952, which is expected to fetch £200,000 at auction.

TikTok account @CoinCollectingWizard explained that the proof penny was “intriguing” and “unique”.

@coincollectingwizard Have you ever seen a 1952 proof penny? It’s up for auction worth thousands!! 🤑 #rarecoins #coinauction #oldpenny #predecimalpenny #valuablepennies #kinggeorge #oldmoney #britain ♬ Against All Odds - Abricot

He said: “Wowzers, this penny is set to sell at auction for £200,000, do you have one? This is a UK penny from 1952, it is an intriguing proof coin which is the rarest of the proof penny of the entire series of copper and bronze pennies.

“The existence of this unique 1952 proof penny was not known publicly until its official appearance at auction in October 1997, some 45 years after it was struck.

"People were astonished to see this coin appear and in proof quality as this was not known to exist. The 1952 proof penny remains an enigma as the only unique striking of a pre-decimal penny from the 20th century.

"It is perhaps understandable that George VI the 1952 proof penny remains a unique piece as the King died very early that year, passing away on February 6.

"It will go up for auction and is estimated to reach £200,000, if not more."

Royal Mint 50p coin sells for £490

The alert comes after a rare 50p coin sold for almost 1,000 times its face value at auction this week.

The coin, a Kew Gardens 250th anniversary coin, sold for £490 on eBay.

It is one of the Royal Mint’s rarest and most valuable coins, with just 210,000 copies entering circulation when it was released in 2009.

As a result, it is one of the most sought-after coins by collectors in the UK.

Hereford Times:

The coin features the Chinese Pagoda at the Royal Botanic Gardens on the tails side and a portrait of the Queen.

After being listed on online auction site eBay, the 50p coin attracted 4 bids before selling for £490.

Rarest 50p coins in circulation the UK?

The rarest is the Kew’s Garden 50p, which was designed to mark the 250th anniversary of the gardens in 2009. Only 210,000 coins were ever minted with this design.

The Kew Gardens 50p sells for £156.25 on average, but one seller received over £700 for one when they sold it on eBay.

The other rarest coins stem predominantly from the 2011 Olympics, with the wrestling, football and judo coins among the most valuable. Only 1.1million of each of these coins were produced.

Flopsy bunny and Peter Rabbit designs which were produced in 2018 are also highly valuable.

These coins - 1.4 million of which were minted - depict the characters from Beatrix Potter’s novels and celebrate the life of the English writer and these sell for around £5.

In 2019, 500 million coins were produced, with three new 50p designs.

These included one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Paddington Bear at St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London.