Broken pound coins for sale 'deliberately manipulated'

The new £1 coins have only been in circulation for a few months. Credit: eBay

Broken £1 coins advertised for sale and appearing on online auction sites have been "deliberately manipulated", the Royal Mint believes.

Warped and broken pounds have been auctioned on sites such as eBay in recent days, with starting prices as high as £5,000.

All the denominations have been struck at the Royal Mint based in Llantrisant.

But in a statement, the Royal Mint said although an "extremely small" number of coins contain errors, the ones they've seen for sale were broken deliberately.

They're reminding members of the public that doing so is illegal under the Coinage Act 1971.

Some coins are now being auctioned online with starting bids of £5,000. Credit: eBay

If a member of the public does have a concern about their new £1 coin, they're being asked to email newonepoundcoin@royalmint.com.