Collectors could pay far more than the coin’s face value if it features a specific error along the outer rim.
A coin expert has urged Brits to check their change for an unusual £2 piece that could be worth more than £120. The coin could fetch far more than its face value if it carries a specific error.
Some versions of the 2016 Shakespeare’s tragedies coin, which features the image of a skull on its reverse, are of particular interest to collectors due to one mistake. An expert, known online as the Coin Collector UK, took to social media platform TikTok to explain more.
He advised his followers to carefully check the outer edge of the coin for its inscription. “£123 if you find this Shakespeare £2 coin,” he said.
“So what you want to be checking for on your Shakespeare’s tragedies coin is the edge inscription.” When these coins were created some were mistakenly minted with the wrong inscription.
The correct phrase is “what a piece of work is a man”, while the error versions will say “for king and country”. The expert continued: “It should say around the edge, ‘what a piece of work is a man’, like this one.
“However, in 2016 when these were minted, the Royal Mint actually messed up and ended up producing some with the edge inscription from the army centenary coin, which you can see here. The error coin says around the edge, ‘for king and country.’”
It’s hard to know exactly what this coin is worth, he said, but some have been sold online recently for as much as £123. The Coin Collector said: “Like with most error coins this is quite hard to value as they don’t come up for sale too often.
“One however, did sell a few months ago at auction that went for £123. Others have sold on eBay for the £30 mark and another one also sold for £65.
“They are definitely one worth looking out for in your change. If yours says ‘for king and country’ on the edge, then you found the rear error version.
“This one, which was the circulating version with the correct inscription, unfortunately is only worth £2 as it has a mintage of around five million.”
