In 2015, The Royal Mint issued their first ‘Britannia’ two pound coin. It was a very attractive design and made a great addition to anyone’s collection at the time. Of course, ‘Britannia’ has been on coins for donkeys’ years…. but this particular representation of her is an especially nice one.
What you may not be aware of is that ‘Britannia’ was supposed to be a new UK definitive coin. ‘Technology’ had been in use for eighteen years (1997 to 2015) and it had been decided that something new was needed. And let’s be honest here; ‘Technology’ is probably one of the most boring designs ever for a definitive coin and since most people were sick of the sight of it after almost two decades, this was jolly good news indeed.
All went fine to begin with. The 2015 edition of ‘Britannia’ actually proved to be low mintage too. So, with only 650,000 in circulation, it was (and still is) a fairly sought-after coin. This meant that our new definitive was even more exciting than initially thought and there was actually a bit of a buzz in the air amongst collectors.
Next came the 2016 ‘Britannia’ two pound. Not low in number at all this time (2,925,000) but people were enjoying the continuity and settling into the familiarity of it all. It was nice to see this new coin in circulation and everyone was beginning to look forward to a time when hardly any yawny old ‘Technology’ were seen. But then disaster struck.
Shock!
Horror!
The Royal Mint suddenly made a totally unexpected announcement; there were to be no new two pound coins going into circulation for several years (or possibly for ten years or more according to this article published by The Guardian in 2020). This decision would also include the new ‘Britannia’ two pound coin. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted :/
And now we are here in 2022. It has been six years and the only new two pound coins have been ‘purchase only’ ones on The Royal Mint website. There has still been a ‘Britannia’ for each year since 2016, but the only way of acquiring one of these is to buy an annual/definitives set every year or to purchase one on the secondary market. Although it goes without saying that since any of the last six ‘Britannia’s are ‘sets only’, they go for a handsome price. For example, a 2018 edition will normally sell for £50 minimum.
Whether or not we will ever see any new two pound coins being circulated again remains to be seen. The Royal Mint may even decide to extend this ‘period of unrelease’. This may sound silly, but just take a moment to remember how much less cash is now used for transactions since the onset of Covid….
We got so very close to having a genuinely nice new two pound definitive coin and so near to being rid of the accursed ‘Technology’. Let us hope Mint are true to their word and we will still see this all happen at some point.
© Article and images (except where stated) copyright Mik Smith 2022
There’s something about the Britannia design. Old and new that I love. It makes me proud to be British. The bullion Britannia 1oz coin is my favourite design. It is also highly sought after around the world. Much like China has the Panda, Canada has the Maple Leaf, USA has the Eagle, by far the best is the British Britannia!
The 1oz silver is my favourite Britannia too. I think it is a truly beautiful design – hence I chose it as the main picture for this post 🙂 Whilst it is not as good, the £2 Britannia is still really nice and it is a crying shame that you will rarely see any of these in circulation. It is/was/will be(?) a lovely design to have as the new definitive. I just hope to goodness Mint start releasing these soon…… and we see far fewer boggy old Technology!