Rare 50p coins: the latest release is available right now

To mark the 60^th anniversary of Paddington Bear's first adventure, the Royal Mint has released a new 50p design featuring the Peruvian cub himself sat at London's Paddington train station.

This is the first in a series of Paddington 50p collectible coins.

Which? has found out how you can get your hands on this new collectible coin, and how much it could be worth.

What do the Paddington 50p coins look like?

The new Paddington 50p coin series features two designs of the famous bear on a jaunt around London.

There's Paddington sat on his trunk on a platform at Paddington station, which film fans might recognise as a nod to the recent CGI film about the bear.

The second design sees Paddington waving a Union Jack flag outside Buckingham Palace, which will be released in August.

Both designs have brilliant uncirculated and colour silver proof versions.

How do I get one of these coins?

Currently, only the design of Paddington at the train station has been released.

The uncirculated coin can be bought from the Royal Mint and at selected Post Office branches for £10. The full colour silver proof coin is £60.

For those really wanting to splash out, there will also be a gold proof coin available to purchase for £780.

The design of Paddington outside Buckingham Palace can be pre-ordered now.

Currently, there has been no suggestion that the Paddington 50p coins will be released into circulation.

How valuable are the Paddington 50p coins?

According to coin collection site ChangeChecker, this new Paddington coin is likely to be extremely sought after.

This is due to the popularity of the recent films featuring the bear, plus the fact that the recent Beatrix Potter 50p collection has made for much more interest in limited-edition coins.

A small number of 'accidentally released' Paddington 50p coins were found near The Royal Mint headquarters in Wales.

One of these sold for £16,000 on Ebay - so there is certainly an appetite for people wanting to get their hands on this coin.

Now that it's been released, it's unlikely further sales will be quite so high - but any coin's worth is essentially whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

• Find out more: The rarest and most valuable coins and notes in circulation right now

Which rare 50p coins are the most valuable right now?

The last collectible coin released by the Royal Mint that is not being released into circulation is the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p.

This was only available to purchase for those who visited The Royal Mint Experience in Wales and struck their own coin. Several Ebay sales of this coin are above £40.

As for coins in circulation, the 2009 Kew Gardens 50p has remained the rarest and sought-after 50p coin for some time, often selling for more than £80.

This is because the design has the lowest mintage recorded for several years; only 210,000 coins were released, and demand is high.

The graph below shows the mintage figures for the rarest 50p coins. Figures for 2018 coins haven't yet been revealed.

• Find out more: Revealed: the rare 50p coins worth more than £80

What makes a rare coin valuable?

Generally, the value of a coin depends on its scarcity, the level of demand from coin collectors and the coin's condition.

If you have a rare coin in good condition, and it's part of a popular collection - such as the Beatrix Potter 50p coins - then it's likely you'll be able to sell it for more than it's value.

The same can be true if, say, you have a pristine 20-year-old coin that had a high mintage, but few are in very good condition - the coin's condition makes it a rarer prospect, and it's likely to fetch more money.

If you're looking to invest in coins, bear in mind that several scams have been linked to the rare coin business.

Which? carried out a three-month investigation into the dark side of the coin investment craze. Find out more: The dark side of the coin investment craze - read the full investigation