2002 20p Coin

Quick answers

Is the 2002 20p rare?

No. 93.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 2002 20p coins were made?

93,360,000 were struck for circulation.

What is the 2002 20p made of?

Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel). It weighs 5.0 g and measures 21.4 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.

Is the 2002 20p still legal tender?

Yes. Every 20p, including the undated 2008 coin, is legal tender in the UK.

How to recognize it

The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.

The 2002 20p is seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon), 21.4 mm across and cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel).

2002 20p by the numbers

By the numbers, the 2002 20p ranks 20th lowest of 41 20p dates and varieties from 1982 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1997 20p (89.5 million); the next more common is the 1995 20p (102 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1982 20p with 740.8 million, about 7.9 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 20p with 525,000, 178 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 2002 output was 1.6 times fewer than 2001 and 1.6 times fewer than 2003.

Over the 2000s the Mint produced 1.26 billion 20p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2002 20p accounts for 7.4% of that.

What to check on your 2002 20p

• Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
• Count the sides: a genuine 20p has seven curved sides, measures 21.4 mm and weighs 5 g.
• Look at the surfaces under a light. Coins from sets have unbroken luster and color; change-worn coins are dull and scuffed.
• Never clean it. Rubbing or dipping strips the original color and leaves fine scratches.

The crowned rose with the Rank-Broadley portrait (1998 to 2008)

Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait reached the 20p in 1998, the fourth likeness of the Queen on British coins. It shows her as a woman in her seventies, wearing the tiara often called the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, with IRB under the truncation. The rose side was left alone. Gardner's crowned double rose still carried TWENTY PENCE, the numeral 20 and the year, so the portrait side had no date throughout this period. That small quirk of layout would matter a great deal when the design finally changed in 2008.

Demand for 20ps grew steadily as the new century began. The first two Rank-Broadley years were fairly modest, 76,965,000 in 1998 and 73,478,750 in 1999. Then output climbed past 136 million in 2000 and 148 million in 2001. The Golden Jubilee year of 2002 dipped to 93,360,000 with no special design, before 2003 set the high point of the decade at 153,383,750. From 2004 to 2007 the Royal Mint struck a steady 114 to 125 million each year. Nearly all of these coins are still turning up in change today.

The period ends with the scarcest circulating rose coin of all. Early in 2008, before Matthew Dent's shield designs replaced every reverse from 1p to 50p, the Mint struck 11,900,000 rose 20ps with the 2008 date. That is the one date from this run worth hunting for. Don't confuse it with the undated 2008 mule: the rose coin always shows its year on the reverse, while the mule is a shield coin with no date on either side. For the rest of the decade, collect for condition. A 1998 makes a good first-year piece and bright coins from sets show the portrait at its best.

Mintage chart

Specifications