Posts Tagged ‘Coins’
The 2015 Navy £2 is now one of the rarest coins ever!
The £2 coin that commemorates the Royal Navy’s efforts in World War One has just become one of the rarest UK coins in circulation.
The Royal Mint have confirmed that just 650,000 2015 Navy £2 coins have been struck for circulation, kicking the 2002 Commonwealth Games England £2 out of its 3rd place position.
Not only is the Navy £2 coin now the third rarest £2 coin in circulation, it is also the 4th rarest UK coin to date. Click here for the complete Change Checker Guide to UK Coin mintages.
The coin that features a battleship design by military artist David Rowlands and the 5th portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, is sure to become extremely sought after.
When it comes to collecting, there is one fact which is always inevitable – the rarest coins are always in highest demand.
So the next time you’re flicking through your coins, remember – all coins are not created equal! There are some you should count yourself lucky to have, and if you come across the 2015 Navy £2 – it might just be worth hanging on to it!
Find, Collect and Swap all of the UK commemorative coins you find in your change for free on the Change Checker app.
Visit www.changechecker.org to give it a go
Are these the most sophisticated fake £2 coins?
£2 coins were introduced in 1998 to prevent against counterfeiting and were the first bi-metallic coins to enter circulation in the UK.
£2 coins were first issued into circulation in 1998
Made with two different metal components, £2 coins are very complicated to manufacture and very difficult to counterfeit… or so we believed.
As we know, 1 in 30 £1 coins are fake. The Royal Mint are so concerned, they’ll be introducing a new 12-sided £1 coin in March which is billed to become the most secure circulating coin in the world.
But, this means that counterfeiters are now turning their attention to the £2 coin.
To begin with, early £2 counterfeit coins were just a lump of led tin alloy, spray painted to look like a genuine £2 coin and were easy to tell apart from the real thing.
Now, they’re becoming a lot harder to spot, even by professionals. Some fake £2 coins are even being accepted in vending machines and car parking machines.
So how many fakes are out there and who’s responsible?
Fraudsters require a highly sophisticated press to produce bi-colour coins. It’s thought that there are hundreds of thousands of fake £2 coins in circulation and is definitely a form of organised crime.
Can you spot one?
There are a few simple ways to tell if you have a fake £2 coin. One of the most obvious ways to spot a fake is by comparing the quality of the writing on the edge inscription to a genuine coin and also checking that the edge inscription matches the design.
However there are still some fake £2 coins that pass the two tests above.
According to experts, fakes can usually be detected by the weight. Genuine £2 coins should weigh 12g, but these remarkable new counterfeit £2 coins are also weighing in at 12g.
Each UK denomination is made up of different compositions which are agreed between The Royal Mint and HM Treasury but the exact amount is kept top secret.
The only way to find out for definite if the coin is real or fake is for it to be x-rayed by a special machine which gives a reading of all the different elements that have gone into the coin.
So should we be increasing the security of the £2 coins to make it harder for them to be counterfeited?
Let us know your thoughts via Facebook, Twitter or leave us a comment below.
The coin that built the British Empire
The Gold Guinea coin was the most popular coin during the time Britain became the world’s major colonial power. 2013 marked 200 years since the last Guinea was officially struck.
To celebrate this anniversary, a £2 coin was issued in 2013 featuring an interpretation of the original ‘Spade Guinea’ design using the Arms of George III.
2,990,000 Anniversary of the Golden Guinea £2 coins were issued and the coin has a score of 21 on our Scarcity Index, making it less common.
But how did the very first Guinea come to pass?
2013 Anniversary of the Golden Guinea £2
The history of the Guinea
At the end of the civil war in the 17th century, when Charles II was restored to the throne, he was desperate to restore faith in the British currency. The British currency had literally taken a battering during the war and people would clip bits of silver off coins to make money.
A more trustworthy coinage was needed
In exile Charles II had observed coins being produced on a machine – a mill and screw press. The coins created had greater definition and a more regular shape and size compared to the medieval process of hammering.
The new process was employed and a new coin “the Guinea”, worth 20 shillings, was born.
The ‘Rose’ Guinea is so called because of the coin’s reverse design which features the Royal Arms elaborately decorated in a way which is compared to an open rose.
The Guinea was a world first
The ‘Guinea’ is one of the world’s most famous coins and was minted in the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813.
The Guinea takes its name from the African country of Guinea, the source of the Gold used to mint the coin.
The Guinea was actually the very first machine-made British coin and is still one of the most-renowned British coins of all time. It was a coin that could be trusted.
The George III Spade Guinea was the predecessor of the modern Sovereign and the last guinea to be issued for general circulation.
The foundation of the British Empire
The East India Company is historically the most famous company ever. At one time it occupied over half of all global trade and, at its peak, it kept a private army of 27,000 soldiers.
They did not set out to change the world but they laid the foundations of the British Empire and its trading success was founded on the Guinea.
The legacy of the Guinea
The designs of the Guinea coin varied widely during the 150 years of production and captured many of the turbulent political changes of the times.
Even after the coin ceased to circulate, the name Guinea was long used to indicate 21 shillings or £1.05 in decimalised currency.
It was finally replaced by the Sovereign with the Great Recoinage of 1816.
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app