MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A 50p Falklands' coin with the wrong Rockhopper penguin variety nets £114 online

Somehow, an image of the northern Rockhoppers ended up on the tales side of the coin, with 3,200 of them being made before the mistake was spotted.

A rare 50p coin from the Falkland Islands has sold for almost £114 online, thanks to a subtle blunder. The silver coin was minted as part of a set of four penguin-themed 50ps designed to celebrate the wildlife on the British isles back in 2017. The original 50p coins featured the wrong variety of Rockhopper penguin

But one of them featured a variety of penguin that was actually native to an island 4,000km away, making them more valuable to a collector. The story was reported by The Sun.

One of the error coins recently sold on eBay for £ 113,95 reports This is Money, a cool £100.95 profit on the original £13 price tag. Another of the error coins sold for £86, which may prove to be a more realistic price, after it received 23 bids.

Others have been listed for around £30 but of course the coins are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.

The southern Rockhopper penguin has shorter feathers around its head. The coins were part of a set that featured a King, Gentoo, Magellanic and Rockhopper penguins. But a fault in the design on the Rockhopper coins meant that a limited number were actually minted with the wrong bird on them.

There are two types of Rockhopper penguin - the southern Rockhopper commonly found on the Falkland Islands and the northern Rockhopper, which is found on the volcanic island of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

Somehow, an image of the northern Rockhoppers ended up on the tales side of the coin, with 3,200 of them being made before the mistake was spotted.

To put it into perspective, the Kew Gardens 50p coins is considered to be the rarest coin in the UK and 210,000 of them were released into circulation.

A corrected version of the coin was later released featuring the southern Rockhopper in the same position. You can spot the difference by looking out for the length of the features on the bird's crest - northern Rockhoppers have longer feathers than the ones that are native to the Falkland Islands.

But it's important to note that these coins were purely commemorative and made by a private seller called Pobjoy Mint, not the Royal Mint.

They can't be used in shops in the Falkland Islands or in the UK so the chances of one turning up in your change is slim.

If you do find one and are looking to sell it, you should get it verified by the manufacturers first. You can either get it valued by a dealer or check how much they're selling for on eBay by searching through the sold listings.