Brits are being urged to examine their £1 coins with a keen eye for a tiny error that might boost their value immensely. At ...

They examined all four coins under a powerful microscope and confirmed in the journal, PLOS 1,, external that there really were scratches, ...

"One of the most fascinating modern £1 coin errors to look out for, the 2016 coin with a micro engraving that actually says '2017'," he explained. "At first glance everything looks perfectly normal.

The collector said you will likely need to use a microscope to properly see the date - as it is incredibly small. "You can see here the date 2017 in micro-lettering on every side," he said.

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As a check, you can divide the number of coins currently in circulation in the world, 1.5 trillion, by the average life of a coin, 25 years, to reach a figure of 60 billion coins minted per annum.

The microscope makes images out of 4,000 very detailed separate exposures. It takes three days of processing to convert them into a single image. Photo: Martin John Callanan ...