Every UK £2 Coin: Designs, Edge Inscriptions and Mintages

Identify your £2 in two steps

First, look at the design. Each commemorative has its own reverse, so finding it in the table gives you the year straight away. Second, turn the coin on its side and read the edge lettering. On commemoratives it usually matches the theme, which makes it a useful check that you've got the right coin.

If the design shows concentric rings with gears and circuits, you've got the standard Technology design, the most common £2 by far.

Circulating commemorative £2 coins

Everyday £2 designs

Collector-only £2 designs (never in circulation)

The one-metal coins, 1986 to 1996

The first £2 coins were struck in a single gold-colored metal, nickel-brass. They were issued only for special occasions. They were legal tender but rarely spent, so they're far more likely to be found in a drawer than in change.

• 1986: Commonwealth Games in Scotland, edge XIII COMMONWEALTH GAMES SCOTLAND 1986
• 1989: Bill of Rights and Claim of Right, marking the tercentenary of 1689
• 1994: Bank of England, edge SIC VOS NON VOBIS
• 1995: End of World War II and the United Nations
• 1996: Euro 96, edge TENTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

The two-metal £2 from 1998

The coin people know today, with a cupronickel center inside a nickel-brass ring, is dated 1997 but entered circulation in 1998. Bruce Rushin's Technology design was the standard reverse, with the edge STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS. Antony Dufort's Britannia replaced it in 2015. King Charles III coins use a design of the four national flowers.

Commemoratives in the two-metal format began with the 1999 Rugby World Cup and continued most years up to 2016. From 2017 new designs such as Jane Austen and the Captain Cook series were sold only to collectors.

Edge inscriptions worth reading

The edge is where many £2 coins hide their best detail. Some favorites:

• REMEMBER REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER on the 2005 Gunpowder Plot
• SO MANY IRONS IN THE FIRE on the 2006 Brunel Achievements
• AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER on the 2007 Abolition of the Slave Trade
• MIND THE GAP on the 2013 London Underground Roundel
• I CALL UPON THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD on both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic handover coins

Milled edges and upside-down lettering

A handful of coins have no lettering at all. The 1989 pair and the 1995 United Nations coin have plain milled edges. The 2004 Trevithick locomotive has a railway line pattern instead of words. A blank edge on those designs is correct.

Edge lettering is applied before the coin is struck, so it can end up either way up relative to the portrait. Upside-down text is normal and doesn't make a coin more desirable.

Which £2 coins to keep

Most two-tone £2 coins in change are face value, including the Technology design and the many commemoratives with mintages in the millions. The ones worth setting aside are the four 2002 Commonwealth Games coins, the 2015 Royal Navy, the two 2008 Olympic coins, the 2012 Rio handover and the 2011 King James Bible, all with fewer than a million made. Among the one-metal coins, the 1989 Claim of Right is the scarcest at 381,400.

If you find one, keep it away from the keys and other coins in your pocket. Scratches and dings on the ring show up quickly and matter to collectors.

Frequently asked questions