The British two pound coin (£2) is a denomination of modern British coinage that is worth two pounds sterling. Its obverse featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II from the coin’s release until 2023, when King Charles III replaced her. Three different portraits of the Queen have been used, with the most recent design by Jody Clark being introduced in 2015. The reverse design features Britannia.
The coin was released on 15 June 1998 (coins minted 1997) after a review of the United Kingdom's coinage decided that a general-circulation £2 coin was needed.Two Pound Coin Designs and Specifications, Royal Mint The new bi-metallic coin design replaced a series of commemorative, uni-metallic coins which were issued between 1986 and 1996 to celebrate special occasions. Although legal tender, those earlier coins had never been common in everyday circulation.
Two pound coins are legal tender to any amount when offered in repayment of a debt; however, the coin's legal tender status is not normally relevant for everyday transactions. , there were an estimated 417 million £2 coins in circulation with an estimated face value of £834 million.
Beyond the usual commemorative versions, no standard two pound coins were minted for general circulation between 2017 and 2020, although examples have been issued in uncirculated sets at a premium. This was because the concurrent introduction of the new version of the one pound coin had put enough £2 (and 20 pence) coins back into circulation, as people emptied coin jars primarily for the older one pound coin that was due to be withdrawn.. Minting of the Britannia coin resumed again in 2021.
Design
The original reverse of the coin, designed by Bruce Rushin, is an abstract design symbolising the history of technological achievement, accompanied by the words TWO POUNDS above, and the year of minting below. This was the first bi-metallic coin to be produced for circulation in Britain since the tin farthing with a copper plug produced in 1692, and is the highest-denomination coin in common circulation in the UK. The coin consists of an outer yellow metal nickel-brass ring made from 76% copper, 20% zinc, and 4% nickel, and an inner steel-coloured cupro-nickel disc made from 75% copper, 25% nickel. The coin weighs and is in diameter.
The design itself was first tried out in 1994 when the Royal Mint produced a short run of demonstration pieces to the new bi-metal standard. These pieces were not for circulation and were simply intended to test the manufacturing process. The coin was technically similar to the version which eventually entered circulation with the Maklouf effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and the image of a sailing ship similar to that previously used on the reverse of the pre-decimal halfpenny piece. The inscription on the reverse read ROYAL MINT TRIAL 1994 with an edge inscription based on the one pound coin which read DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI XLVI, meaning "An ornament and a safeguard – [in the] 46th year of [her] reign". The 1994 pieces were never legal tender but were eventually released for sale as part of a presentation set in 1998. At the same time in 1994 the Royal Mint produced a mono-metallic trial two-pound coin, with the same ship reverse and inscription, but otherwise similar to the earlier commemorative coins. These were never issued in presentation sets, and so are much scarcer than the bi-metallic version.
Because of technical difficulties, the 1997-dated coins, which bear the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Raphael Maklouf, were not released to circulation until June 1998 (the same time as the 1998-dated coins). Coins dated 1998 and later bear the effigy of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley. The Maklouf-effigy coins bear the inscription ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA F D on the obverse; the Rank-Broadley coins bear the inscription ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF.
The reverse of the regular-issue coin, designed by Bruce Rushin, bears a concentric design symbolically representing technological development from the Iron Age, through the Industrial Revolution and the Electronic Age to the Internet, with the inscription TWO POUNDS above the design and the date below. An oddity of the design is that it depicts nineteen interlocking gears. Because it is an odd number of gears, the mechanism could not actually turn. The coin has the edge inscription STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS, a quote taken from a letter by Isaac Newton to Robert Hooke, in which he describes how his work was built on the knowledge of those that had gone before him. "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Newton was Warden and later Master of the Royal Mint.
In February 2015, the Royal Mint announced that a new design featuring Britannia by Antony Dufort would replace the previous design.A symbol of optimism BRITANNIA RETURNS Royal Mint (www.royalmint.com). Retrieved on 2015-03-01. The new coins feature the edge inscription QUATUOR MARIA VINDICO, meaning "I claim the four seas", an inscription previously featured on coins bearing the image of Britannia.
In October 2023 the King Charles III two-pound coin was presented; the coin features the national flowers – a rose for England, a daffodil for Wales, a thistle for Scotland and a shamrock for Northern Ireland. The coin has the edge inscription IN SERVITIO OMNIUM ("In the service of all"), taken from the King's inaugural speech in September 2022.
Variants
In addition to the standard designs there have been several variant reverse designs used on the £2 coin to commemorate important events. These are summarised in the table below.
+Uni-metallic coins Year Event Design Edge inscription Designer Mintage 1986 XIII Commonwealth Games Cross of St Andrew, crown of laurel leaves and Scottish Thistle XIII COMMONWEALTH GAMES SCOTLAND 1986 Norman Sillman 8,212,184 1989 Tercentenary of the Bill of Rights Cypher of 'W&M' (King William and Queen Mary) interlaced surmounting a horizontal Parliamentary Mace and representation of the Royal Crown above and the dates 1689 and 1989 below, all within the inscription 'Tercentenary of the Bill of Rights' None (milled) John Lobban 4,392,825 1989 Tercentenary of the Claim of Right Cypher of 'W&M' (King William and Queen Mary) interlaced surmounting a horizontal Parliamentary Mace and representation of the Royal Crown above and the dates 1689 and 1989 below, all within the inscription 'Tercentenary of the Claim of Right' None (milled) John Lobban 381,400 1994 Tercentenary of the Bank of England The Bank's Corporate Seal including the Crown and Cypher of King William and Queen Mary and the dates 1694–1994 SIC VOS NON VOBIS(Translation > "Thus we do, but not for ourselves") Leslie Durbin 1,443,116 1995 50th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War A stylised representation of a Dove as the symbol of peace 1945 IN PEACE GOODWILL 1995 John Mills 4,394,566 1995 50th Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations 50th anniversary symbol of United Nations and a fanning pattern of flags with the inscription NATIONS UNITED FOR PEACE above and the dates '1945–1995' below None (milled) Michael Rizzello 1,668,575 1996 10th European Football Championship A stylised representation of a football, with the date of 1996 centrally placed and encircled by sixteen small rings TENTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP John Mills 5,141,350