The coin has been dubbed the ‘holy grail’ by collectors and is thought to be worth up to £300
People are being encouraged to watch out for a particular £2 coin that could fetch hundreds of pounds from collectors. This 2011 piece is believed to be valued at up to £300, with certain vendors even pricing it higher.
The coin displays an illustration of Tosha the Cat, the fourth official Commonwealth Youth Games mascot, on one side. It was minted by Pobjoy Mint on behalf of the Isle of Man Treasury. In 2018, it experienced a surge in online fame when coin collectors on social media dubbed it the “coin of the year”.
So what sets this £2 coin apart from others?
Specialists at Change Checker said: “Whilst rarity is normally a large factor in how collectable a coin is, mintage figures for British Isles coins are notoriously hard to track down and this coin is no exception.
“No one actually knows the true mintage figure, so it can’t be said how rare the coin is, although we do know that British Isles coins typically have lower mintages than UK coins due to the smaller population.
“One thing we do know for certain is that the Isle of Man Tosha Cat £2 is definitely sought-after amongst collectors.
“Although the Tosha Cat £2 was issued in 2011, it wasn’t until it was posted on Facebook coin groups in 2018 that the price started skyrocketing on the secondary market.
“In fact, in 2018 this coin became ‘Coin of the Year’ on Facebook coin groups, and this is where it really found its success. Following the Facebook hype surrounding the Tosha £2, eBay bidding wars began. At a time when the Kew Gardens was selling for around £80 on eBay, this coin was regularly selling for double that.”
Current eBay listings routinely surpass £100 and can reach thousands of pounds for this Isle of Man piece. In a clip shared on TikTok, the UK Coin Hunt account dubbed the coin the “Holy grail” and valued it between £250 to £300.