Could the £2 coin in your pocket be worth £30, or is it worthless?
Although they haven’t attracted quite the same attention as the Kew Gardens 50p, for instance, rare £2 coins such as the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games edition (pictured below) can fetch up to £30.
Other £2 coins such as the Mary Rose and the Britannia could also be worth slightly more than face value (read more about rare £2 coins here).
Unfortunately, where the collectors have gone the fakes have followed.
We’ve teamed up with the Fake Pound Coin Database to learn the tell-tale signs of a fake £2.
The edge of the coin
One of the easiest ways to spot a fake £2 is the edge of the coin.
£2 coins for the UK mainland should have an inscription on the edge of the coin.
Fakes – and coins for the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey etc – are milled, with grooves like a 10p coin.
Matters are complicated, however, by the fact that some fakes do include lettering on the edges. This is why it’s worth noting the correct inscriptions of real £2 coins.
The Mary Rose, for example, has the words ‘Your Noblest Shippe 1511’, whilst the Britannia has the inscription ‘Quatour Maria Vindico’.
Have you got a valuable £1 coin in your pocket? Find out here.
Frosted designs and portraits
Another giveaway of a fake £2 coin is a frosted design against a darker background.
Whilst the designs are very similar, it’s easy to spot the difference in colour between this real and fake Britannia coin:
Real
Fake
Did you also notice that the fake Britannia had a different portrait?
Other fake coins are even less convincing, with the wrong metals being used in some cases (real coins do not rust):
Magnetic fake coins
Real £2 coins are never magnetic. However, some fakes are, because they contain iron and steel rather than the copper, zinc and nickel used by the Royal Mint.
Even if a coin looks convincing, what it’s made of matters because it determines whether vending machines will accept these coins.
Whereas real £2 coins have two different parts, the inner circle and outer ring, made of different alloys, fakes often just have different plating over the same material.
Read about why the new £1 is so difficult to forge here
Ridiculous slogans
When you’re searching for edge inscriptions, dodgy frosting et al, it can be easy to miss the biggest clue of all:
Whilst it’s tempting to imagine this coin as the work of a lovesick Royal Mint employee, the truth is that’s it’s a fake – albeit one that’s very rare.
If your £2 coin turns out to be a fake, then remember it’s illegal to use it or sell it on; unfortunately, there’s very little you can do about fakes, which is why it’s so important to check coins first.
Read more about valuable and genuine £2 coins here.