Finally it is here, the greatly anticipated new £1 coin is making its way into our pockets and purses, as the old round pound takes a back seat.

With many shoppers hoping to lay their hands on one of the shiny new coins , you may want to wish for one which is not quite perfection as perfectly formed coins hold no currency with collectors.

Their money is instead on uniquely flawed coins that, just two days into circulation, are already selling for hundreds of pounds.

Money expert Alex Cassidy, from GoCompare’s Coining It In, explained how to spot a special edition of the new coin.

“As with the current £2 coins, the 2017 £1 coin is bi-metallic - in this case an outer ‘gold’ coloured nickel-brass band with an inner ‘silver’ coloured cupro-nickel disc,” Alex told The Mirror.

Mistakes on the new coin could make your £1 worth hundreds

“Because of this, any potential die errors during production, which occurs when the dies have become misaligned, could be worth a lot of money.

“Punters should pay attention to both the floral crown on the reverse side for any rotations, as well as the Queen’s head, which should sit directly above the new bevelled edge.”

More than 200,000 of the brand new coins were sent out to retailers last year for "testing".

They were classed as "trial coins" only - and are not legitimate tender, however, they're being flogged for hundreds of pounds on eBay.

Owner 'Glanvog' sold his edition for £200 last month, after bidders ramped up the war for the sought after coin.

Experts are now predicting their value to spike even further after launch.

Alex said: “These new £1 trial coins are fascinating, especially considering the financial precedent of the £2 trial coins in 1994, which have since become one of the most sought after collectable coins in Britain.

“If these new trial coins turn out to be as valuable as 1994’s, then anyone who gets their hands on them now could be sitting on a future goldmine.”

The new one pound coin was brought into circulation on March 28

Chards, a leading coin and bullion dealer based in the UK believe the most valuable coins will be the "proof coins".

A Chards statement said: “Bear in mind they are producing more than 2.2 billion £1 coins this year.

"We do not think that the 2017 circulation £1 coin will be a good investment.

“However, the collector coins such as the silver proof, silver proof piedfort and gold proof will be the ones to invest in.”

These special pre-production samples are often used for “approval” purposes and are produced to a much higher standard.

“This is expected to be a good year for collectors, with the trend of 50p collectible limited release coins continuing into the new £1 coins,” Alex told Mirror Money.

“That’s the main thing to look out for in the near future, because the first run of those collectibles will be huge.”

The first batch of new 12-sided £1 coins will commemorate the achievements of Jane Austen, Sir Isaac Newton and the Royal Flying Corps.

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app

You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!