Posts Tagged ‘Change Checker’
The 2015 Navy £2 is now one of the rarest coins ever!
The £2 coin that commemorates the Royal Navy’s efforts in World War One has just become one of the rarest UK coins in circulation.
The Royal Mint have confirmed that just 650,000 2015 Navy £2 coins have been struck for circulation, kicking the 2002 Commonwealth Games England £2 out of its 3rd place position.
Not only is the Navy £2 coin now the third rarest £2 coin in circulation, it is also the 4th rarest UK coin to date. Click here for the complete Change Checker Guide to UK Coin mintages.
The coin that features a battleship design by military artist David Rowlands and the 5th portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, is sure to become extremely sought after.
When it comes to collecting, there is one fact which is always inevitable – the rarest coins are always in highest demand.
So the next time you’re flicking through your coins, remember – all coins are not created equal! There are some you should count yourself lucky to have, and if you come across the 2015 Navy £2 – it might just be worth hanging on to it!
Find, Collect and Swap all of the UK commemorative coins you find in your change for free on the Change Checker app.
Visit www.changechecker.org to give it a go
Are these the most sophisticated fake £2 coins?
£2 coins were introduced in 1998 to prevent against counterfeiting and were the first bi-metallic coins to enter circulation in the UK.
£2 coins were first issued into circulation in 1998
Made with two different metal components, £2 coins are very complicated to manufacture and very difficult to counterfeit… or so we believed.
As we know, 1 in 30 £1 coins are fake. The Royal Mint are so concerned, they’ll be introducing a new 12-sided £1 coin in March which is billed to become the most secure circulating coin in the world.
But, this means that counterfeiters are now turning their attention to the £2 coin.
To begin with, early £2 counterfeit coins were just a lump of led tin alloy, spray painted to look like a genuine £2 coin and were easy to tell apart from the real thing.
Now, they’re becoming a lot harder to spot, even by professionals. Some fake £2 coins are even being accepted in vending machines and car parking machines.
So how many fakes are out there and who’s responsible?
Fraudsters require a highly sophisticated press to produce bi-colour coins. It’s thought that there are hundreds of thousands of fake £2 coins in circulation and is definitely a form of organised crime.
Can you spot one?
There are a few simple ways to tell if you have a fake £2 coin. One of the most obvious ways to spot a fake is by comparing the quality of the writing on the edge inscription to a genuine coin and also checking that the edge inscription matches the design.
However there are still some fake £2 coins that pass the two tests above.
According to experts, fakes can usually be detected by the weight. Genuine £2 coins should weigh 12g, but these remarkable new counterfeit £2 coins are also weighing in at 12g.
Each UK denomination is made up of different compositions which are agreed between The Royal Mint and HM Treasury but the exact amount is kept top secret.
The only way to find out for definite if the coin is real or fake is for it to be x-rayed by a special machine which gives a reading of all the different elements that have gone into the coin.
So should we be increasing the security of the £2 coins to make it harder for them to be counterfeited?
Let us know your thoughts via Facebook, Twitter or leave us a comment below.
Are the Beatrix Potter coins destined to be the scarcest 50ps ever?
There is no doubt that the Beatrix Potter 50ps have caused much excitement across the UK and we can see why they’re so popular.
Collectors all over the country are checking their change right now in an attempt to find the Peter Rabbit 50p coin and are sure to do the same when the other coins in the series are released into circulation.
Ebay listing shows 2 x Circulated Peter Rabbit 50ps sold for £31 + P&P
But the more collectors hoard these coins, the less likely you are to find one in circulation – some are selling online for 40 times their face value!
What makes these 50p coins so special?
The unique theme of this collection has been the key to its undeniable success.
Struck by The Royal Mint, this series of Beatrix Potter 50ps celebrate the 150th anniversary of her birth. Designed by Emma Noble, these coins celebrate Beatrix Potter as the artist behind some of the best-loved characters in children’s literature as well as some of the animals from her children’s tales.
Will these 50ps disappear from circulation completely?
As the rest of the collection unfolds we will welcome three more familiar faces, Jemima-Puddle-Duck, Squirrel Nutkin and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, who will appear on UK coins later in the year to complete this five piece series.
As the coins are so popular, we predict it won’t be long until they completely disappear from circulation.
We think every coin in the Beatrix Potter fifty pence series will be snapped up and will stay safely tucked away in the collections of Change Checkers all over the UK.
So if you do find one, make sure you keep it safe – a 50p Collecting revolution could be about to start!
Claim a FREE Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p with the Change Checker Collecting Pack