A man collecting his change at a gas station was shocked after finding a rare $2 coin worth nearly $6,000.
The 2020 Bullseye Firefighter Coin is a highly sought-after collectible, minted to honour those who fought the 2019 Black Summer wildfires.
The error occurs when the flame that should be between the firefighters ends up printed on the other side of the coin, on the face of Queen Elizabeth II.
The rare minting error has made the colorful coin extremely valuable and an uncirculated version of the collectible recently sold for $5,950.
Firefighter coins already in circulation are still worth a few thousand dollars.
Coin expert Matthew Thompson said the $2 coins were considered extremely rare because no one knows how many were minted and are still in circulation.
“Nobody knows for sure why they are so popular and collectible, because the quantity available would be really small. But nobody knows how many will be made definitively,” he said. Yahoo Finance.
“If this guy got it from the servo, it looks like it was probably in a cash register, it may have taken some hits and all those things contribute to its value.”
The rare minting error occurs when the flame that is supposed to be between the firefighters ends up printed on the face of Queen Elizabeth II (the rare coin is shown in the image).
The $2 coin without the rare printing error is shown in the image.
The expert said he was aware of fake versions of the Firefighter coin where scammers had manually transferred the fireball painting to the other side.
He encouraged coin enthusiasts to seek professional advice on their purchases.
This comes after a rare 50-cent coin featuring spectacular colors highlighting its coat of arms was valued at up to 400 times its face value.
The 2012 hypermetallic coin is distinguished from other coins because the kangaroo, emu, shield, crown, star and number 50 have different colours.
The Royal Australian Mint only produced 58,554 coins and they were released as part of a set, raising their value to over $200.
The collection included six coins and sold for $32.50. At the time, collectors were not able to purchase the coin individually.
A rare 50-cent coin with spectacular colors highlighting its coat of arms was valued at up to 400 times its face value (50-cent coin pictured)
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