What’s so special about the 2015 Britannia £2 coin?
Britannia has a long standing history with British coinage. Having first appeared on a 1672 Farthing during the reign of Charles II, she subsequently featured on a British coin in one way or another for more than 300 years. In 2008 she was surprisingly dropped from the 50 pence piece despite a Daily Mail campaign to save her.
Britannia has appeared on many British coin denominations over the past 300 years.
After a short absence, in February 2015 it was announced that Britannia would be making a triumphant return to British circulating coins. Antony Dufort’s modern interpretation of Britannia was to feature on Britain’s highest denomination coin, the £2, replacing the “technology” design which had featured on the coin since 1997.
Antony Dufort’s modern interpretation of Britannia.
It was a very popular move from The Royal Mint, even the then Prime Minister David Cameron said: “It is great to see Britannia’s welcome return to our currency. Britannia is an enduring symbol of our national identity, ideal to help reinforce the sense of shared purpose and history for Britons.”
However, it wasn’t until 2016 when The Mint released the mintage figures for the 2015 coins that the real surprise was unveiled.
Only 650,000 of the 2015 date Britannia £2 coins had been stuck for circulation, making it one of the most scarce UK £2 coins ever! So scarce in fact that there were fewer of this coin than the England and the Scotland coins from the famous 2002 Commonwealth Games series.
The 2015 Britannia £2 coin is the joint third most scarce £2 in circulation.
The astonishing fact that Britannia had appeared on a circulating British coin in one way or another in an unbroken cycle between 1672 and 2008 was enough to ensure this £2 would be a favourite with collectors. The announcement of such a low mintage figure then created somewhat of a collecting frenzy!
The 2015 Britannia coin remains highly sought after by collectors.
The UK 2015 Britannia £2 Coin
This first-year 2015 £2 Britannia is already one of the most-scarce circulating £2 coins ever issued with just 650,000 coins passing through banks and cash centres.
That places it third equal in the all-time low mintage charts!
Hi I have this £2 coin but it says 2015 is it worth anything, thank you xx
How much is one worth please
The 2015 Technology £2 was only minted Jan & Feb , so is this a rare coin ?
Any mintage figures available ?
Roger
Hi Roger, according to Royal Mint figures, there were over 35 million 2015 Technology £2 coins minted, meaning that it is common. I hope this helps – Luke
WELL ` I AM SURPRISED !
The price of these on eBay is very interesting when you consider their rarity. These and the World War I are equally rare and yet still very cheap on eBay.
Thankyou for this information change checker it has cheered me up a little because when i started collecting coins a couple of years ago i was just collecting the 50p’s and £1 coins but I went to buy a paper but had only got a £5 note in pocket so when checking my change i noticed i had a Britannia coin which i was very pleased about as it was my first pictured £2 coin, when i got home i put it in my folder and ticked it off on the app but it says relativeley common on the scarcity indicator presumably because of the 2016 figures making the overall figures higher?
Anyway reading this ive just been to check the coin and it is the 2015 coin that i have making it the most special coin ive had in my change especially as it was the coin that kickstarted my £2 collection 🙂
Why can,t Britannia 2pound coins be listed to swap by dates.
I have a 2016 £2 coin britannia is this a rare one too or only 2016. Please tell me otherwise i might spend it and not save it thanks..
Btw on the £2 scarcity index can you please add the year with the subject on the coin itself thanks
please make a comment so i know what to do next, thanks..
Howard
Hi Howard, The 2016 Britannia is not as rare as the 2015 coin as it has a substantially higher mintage. Still a nice coin for your collection though. Thanks Luke