A lot of coin collectors have never heard of inverted effigies. This is often because not everyone is interested in error coins. However, these coins are well worth knowing about because they often change hands for good money.
An inverted effigy is where the portrait of the queen is not upright as it should be. And it is caused by a die working loose on the machine during production. The longer the machine runs before someone spots the fault, the more error coins are minted. And the looser the die gets, the more the queen will rotate.
Needless to say, some inverted effigy coins will only have the top of the queen’s head at the one o’clock position, whilst with others she will be entirely upside down. Unsurprisingly, the value of one of these coins will normally depend on the degree of rotation.
The most common UK inverted effigy and the one you are most likely to hear about is the Britannia (2015) two pound coin. It seems that a fair few of these got out and into the system and they show up on eBay quite regularly. But there are several others I am aware of and the truth is that any coin could have the queen’s head in the wrong position.
Other coins I have seen with this error include – ‘Union Jigsaw’ £2 (2007), ‘Armistice’ £2 (2018), ‘Commonwealth Wales’ £2 (2002). I have also heard from several people that ‘Technology’ (2015) inverted effigies exist.
When it comes to buying one of these you will need to be very careful indeed. Only ever purchase from someone showing both sides of the coin at once with a mirror. You will also need to decide in advance just how much you are willing to pay to have one of these in your collection. Because with these and many other error coins it is difficult to put a definite value on them. So some people are liable to be far more realistic than others with their prices……. 😉
© Article and images (except where stated) copyright Mik Smith 2022
Great information thanks Mik