The 50 cent coin that may fetch much more

[chrisild]

An error coin that shows the German eagle instead of the Brandenburg Gate may be worth 500 to 1000 euro. In May such a piece will be offered at an auction in Berlin.

http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/deutschland/50-Cent-sind-bis-zu-1000-Euro-wert_aid_832290.html
http://www.mopo.de/2010/20100313/deutschland-welt/panorama/diese_50_cent_sind_1000_euro_wert.html
The image shown at rp-online.de is a montage, not a photo of the actual piece. (Also, they like adding other coin related links, so don't be surprised if you see Matthew Dent's UK designs or pieces from Slovakia somewhere on the page.) The second article is where the attached image is from.

According to the dealer who found and will now auction the error coin, several hundred were made. The Bundesbank has supposedly taken about 100 of them out of circulation, so a few may still be around. This one is a 2002 G piece - a 50 cent planchet with the common side of the 50 cent coin how it looked back then, and the country-specific side of a German €1 coin.

The piece will be offered at €500. But the auction house expects a result of around €1,000 for this error coin.

Christian

[Figleaf]

If "several hundred" were produced and "about 100" retrieved since 2002, why is it that only one is known, but only from a description?

Peter

[chrisild]

Uh, these pieces are "known", they just do not occur in circulation very often. This kind of error is also listed here for example. Not many were made, and the ones that end up at the Bundesbank are "gone" forever, so the total number of such pieces will decrease.

Now whether the auction result will actually be in the four digit range ... we'll see. The rp-online.de photo does state it is a photomontage, but the one at mopo.de (the image that I attached) does not, so that may well be the coin that will be offered at the auction.

Christian