when was the first £2 coin minted
1997
title: Two pounds (British coin) text: Two pounds (British coin) The British two pound (£2) coin is a denomination of the pound sterling. Its obverse has featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II since the coin’s introduction. Three different portraits of the Queen have been used, with the current design by Jody Clark being introduced in 2015. The reverse design features Britannia. The coin was introduced on 15 June 1998 (coins minted 1997) after a review of the United Kingdom's coinage decided that a general-circulation £2 coin was needed. The new bi-metallic coin design replaced a series of commemorative, uni-metallic coins which were issued between 1986 title: Two pounds (British coin) text: and 1996 to celebrate special occasions. Although legal tender, these coins have never been common in everyday circulation. As of March 2014 there were an estimated 417 million £2 coins in circulation with an estimated face value of £834 million. The original reverse of the coin, designed by Bruce Rushin, is an abstract design symbolising the history of technological achievement, accompanied by the words above, and the year of minting below. This was the first bi-metallic coin to be produced for circulation in Britain since the tin farthing with a copper plug produced in 1692, and is the highest denomination title: Two pounds (British gold coin) text: reigns used the Pistrucci "George and Dragon" obverse with milled edges. The 1902 Edward VII coin was also minted at Sydney, being identified by an "S" above the centre of the date. The reign of Queen Elizabeth II saw a departure from the normal practice in issuing gold coinage. A small number of gold £2 pieces were struck in 1953 in order to provide continuity of the series, but the striking was not released to the public, with the result that they are now valued at around £75,000. No further £2 gold pieces were struck until 1980, 9 years after title: Two pounds (British coin) text: 13 million 1997-dated £2 coins issued. Another urban myth about the coin is that putting it in the freezer overnight causes the cupro-nickel centre to pop out, a claim which had been true of some early mintings of the similarly bimetallic Canadian 2 dollar coin. In addition to the standard designs there have been several variant reverse designs used on the £2 coin to commemorate important events. These are summarised in the table below. Two pounds (British coin) The British two pound (£2) coin is a denomination of the pound sterling. Its obverse has featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth title: Two pounds (British coin) text: coin in common circulation in the UK. The coin consists of an outer yellow metal nickel-brass ring made from 76% copper, 20% zinc, and 4% nickel, and an inner steel-coloured cupro-nickel disc made from 75% copper, 25% nickel. The coin weighs and is in diameter. The design itself was first tried out in 1994 when the Royal Mint produced a short run of demonstration pieces to the new bi-metal standard. These pieces were not for circulation and were simply intended to test the manufacturing process. The coin was technically similar to the version which eventually entered circulation with the Maklouf