1995 United Nations £2 Coin
The 1995 United Nations £2 is a circulating £2 with 1.67 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1995
- Circulation mintage
- 1,668,575
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Michael Rizzello
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1995 United Nations £2 worth?
1.67 million were made, so the 1995 United Nations £2 is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with crisp edge lettering
- Original Royal Mint pack or presentation folder
- A genuine mint error such as a misaligned or wrong edge, confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1995 United Nations £2 rare?
- No. 1.67 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1995 United Nations £2 coins were made?
- 1,668,575 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 1995 United Nations £2?
- The design is credited to Michael Rizzello.
- What is the 1995 United Nations £2 made of?
- Nickel-brass (single metal). It weighs 15.98 g and measures 28.4 mm.
- Can you still spend the 1995 United Nations £2?
- Technically yes. The Royal Mint says the single-metal £2 coins of 1986 to 1996 are still legal tender, but banks and shops do not have to accept them. Most people keep them, since they almost never appear in change.
Why the 1995 United Nations £2 was made
The United Nations came into being in October 1945, after delegates from fifty nations met in San Francisco that spring to draw up its Charter. Britain was a founding member and one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. The new body was meant to replace the failed League of Nations and to prevent another world war. Its first General Assembly met in London in January 1946, before the organization settled into its permanent headquarters in New York.
In 1995 the Royal Mint struck a £2 for the fiftieth anniversary of the UN, its second £2 of the year alongside the dove coin for the end of the war. It used the same nickel-brass, single-metal format as every £2 before it. Like them it was legal tender without ever becoming a regular part of change. Unlike the dove coin, it has no edge inscription, only milling. That small difference catches out people who expect every £2 to carry lettering. It is one of the less common early types, though still nowhere near as scarce as the Claim of Right.
How to recognize it
Michael Rizzello's reverse combines the official fiftieth anniversary symbol of the United Nations with a fan of flags spreading out behind it. Above runs the inscription NATIONS UNITED FOR PEACE. Below sit the dates 1945 and 1995. Nothing is written on the edge, which is milled only, so a plain edge here is correct and not a sign of a fake or an error. The fanned flags, which no other £2 shares, are the quickest way to separate this from the 1995 dove coin. The obverse carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait. The coin is gold colored throughout. On a worn coin the flags may blur together, but the shape of the fan stays clear.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1995 United Nations £2 by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 1995 United Nations £2 ranks 16th lowest of 42 circulating £2 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2016 Great Fire of London £2 (1.63 million); the next more common is the 2013 London Underground Train £2 (1.69 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2005 End of World War II (VE Day 60) £2 with 10.2 million, about 6.1 times as many. The scarcest is the 1989 Claim of Right £2 with 381,400, 4.4 times fewer than this one.
1995 brought 1 other circulating £2 design: the End of World War II (4.39 million). The 1995 United Nations £2 was the scarcest of the year.
What to check on your 1995 United Nations £2
- Read the edge. This design has no edge lettering: the edge should be milled. Lettering on the edge of this design, or a crude, uneven edge, is a sign of a counterfeit.
- This early £2 is a single gold-colored metal throughout and heavier than later two-metal coins.
- Weigh it: a genuine single-metal £2 weighs 15.98 g. Fakes are often a little light and softer in detail.
- Compare the portrait and lettering with a known genuine coin. Blurry letters, a flat portrait or uneven spacing point to a copy.
The circulation mintage was 1,668,575, a good deal lower than the dove coin of the same year, though still far from scarce. Expect face value for worn coins and a small premium for sharp uncirculated ones. The flags are full of fine lines, so they are the best place to judge wear: a high-grade coin keeps the separation between them. Loose coins often carry contact marks from others in the same tin, which hold collector interest down, while a carefully stored example with original luster is the one worth keeping.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 2 pounds |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1995 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,668,575 |
| Composition | Nickel-brass (single metal) |
| Weight | 15.98 g |
| Diameter | 28.4 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled, no lettering |
| Designer | Michael Rizzello |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Other 1995 £2 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 End of World War II £2 Coin | 4,394,566 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
How many 1995 United Nations £2 coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 1,668,575 for circulation. That is well under half the mintage of the dove £2 issued the same year, but it is still a fairly common coin and not a major rarity among the early £2 coins.
Why does the 1995 United Nations £2 have no edge lettering?
The coin was designed with a plain milled edge, like the two 1989 coins. Many other £2 coins carry an edge inscription, so a milled edge on this one can look odd, but it is exactly how the Royal Mint made it.
Mintage figures: Two pound coin (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.