People urged to check if they have 50p coin that has sold for hundreds on eBay

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A special 50p coin has sold on eBay for much more than its face value - and there are apparently thousands of them out there.

One lucky seller received £225 for the limited coin after listing it on the popular online auction site. The coin was released in 2009 as part of a Blue Peter competition, where nine-year-old Florence Jackson won after drawing an athlete doing the high jump.

This was then printed onto the 50p coins which were issued ahead of the 2012 Olympic games in London. Around 20,000 of the coins were produced, and while they were never officially put into circulation, many did enter everyday transactions - meaning you could be sitting on a small fortune. READ MORE: Picture-postcard village an hour's drive from Manchester that is impossible to pass through without stopping The coins originally sold for £1.09 - but they're now worth a lot more, with some that have sold for as much as £286 on eBay in recent months, reports the Echo.

One lucky seller just received a huge £225.01 for theirs, after attracting 17 different bids, with the sale price jumping considerably after starting at £9.99.