GET MINTED Rare £2 coins: The 12 most valuable in circulation – from Mary Rose to the Commonwealth Games
THERE are 55 different £2 coin designs currently in circulation, and some of the rarest are worth more than 40 times their face value at £85.
Coin site ChangeChecker has released a list of the coins to watch out for and if you find any of the ones below in your pocket, have a look on eBay because you could be quids in.
In general, the lower the mintage the rarer the coin, and the rarer the coin the more valuable it is.
That said, ChangeChecker's scarcity index also takes into account two other key pieces of information.
This includes how many of each coin are listed as “collected” by members of the site, which indicates the relative ease of finding a particular coin.
The experts also looked at the number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous three months, showing the current level of collector demand.
Is your small change worth a fortune?
IF you think that you might have a coin worth a small fortune then you can use the Scarcity Index to check how rare it could be.
This is listed on the ChangeChecker website.
You can then check how much it is selling for on eBay. Search the full name of the coin and then click “sold” listing. Then search for the “highest value”.
You can either choose to sell the coin on eBay or through a coin specialist, such as Changechecker.org.
If the coin is old you may want to consider getting a free valuation from a coin specialist or auction house.
Here's which coins came up trumps and how much circulated versions - the ones cropping up in your change - have recently sold for on eBay.
1. 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland - £85
The 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 coin tops ChangeChecker's scarcity index list.
One has recently sold on eBay for £85 - more than 40 times its face value - attracting 22 bids.
There are just 485,500 of these in circulation.
You can check which version of the coin you have by looking at the flag in the circle - it will either depict the English, Northern Irish, Scottish, or Welsh flag.
2. 2002 Commonwealth Games Scotland - £28
The 2002 Scottish Commonwealth Games coin comes in second place.
One recently sold for £28 on eBay after gathering 13 bids, although it has fetched more in the past.
It has climbed in the scarcity rankings and used to be third.
There are 771,750 of these in circulation.
3. 2002 Commonwealth Games England - £40
In third place is the Commonwealth Games coin for England, which recently sold for £40 on eBay.
There are just 650,500 of these in circulation.
4. 2002 Commonwealth Games Wales - £36
The Commonwealth Games coin for Wales is the fourth in the list - but has recently been selling for a higher price than the Scotland version.
A circulated version recently sold on eBay for £36 after attracting 16 bids.
There are 588,500 of these in circulation.
5. London 2012 handover - £59
The London 2012 handover coin commemorates the UK capital handing over the Olympic flame to Rio, which held the games in 2016.
This has climbed in the scarcity list from number seven.
A circulated coin sold for £59 on eBay in July, attracting 20 bids.
There are 845,000 in circulation.
6. Olympic handover - £34
Just bumped outside of the top five is the Olympic Handover coin.
This £2 details Beijing in 2008 handing over the Olympics to London for 2012, and shows the Olympic flag and two hands shaking.
One recently sold for £34, and appear to have gone up in value - in 2019, they were fetching around £16.
There are 918,000 of these in circulation.
7. King James Bible - £49
Next on the list is a coin showing the King James Bible.
One of these sold on eBay in November 2020 for £49 attracting 18 bids.
According to Change Checker, there are 975,000 in circulation.
8. Olympic centenary - £26
Carrying on the sporting theme, the Olympic centenary £2 marked 100 years of the modern games in 2008, and there are 910,000 in circulation.
Most recently, one sold on ebay for £26, more than 10 times its face value.
The listing attracted 19 bids.
9. 2015 First World War (navy) - £17
Launched in 2015 as part of a set of £2 coins that mark the centenary of WWI, 100 of these two pounds were given to HMS Belfast.
Coin hunters flocked to the ship to track them down.
We found a eBay listing where it sold for £17, though it only had one bid.
This coin entered the top 10, knocking the London Underground Roundel to eleventh
10. Mary Rose - £62
A £2 showing the famous Mary Rose ship sold on eBay in early December 2020 for £62 after 15 bids - so despite being tenth on the Scarcity Index it is still commanding a good price.
There are just over one million in circulation.
11. London Underground Roundel - £27
This is the first of two London Underground-themed coins on the list, and there are more than 1.5 million of them in circulation.
One showing the famous roundel of the capital's transport system sold in December 2020 for £27. on ebay, with just one bid.
12. London Underground train - £20
Showing a picture of a tube train, this £2 sells for more on ebay at the moment.
A single circulated coin sold in January for £20, although only two people bid on it.
It has been in circulation since 2013, and there are currently 1,690,000 of them in people's purses, banks and tills across the country.
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