• Rare 2p Coins 1980
• Rare 2p Coins Isle Of Man
• Rare 2p Coins 1979
• Rare 2p Coins Value
• Rare 2p Coins In Circulation

It won't go away

The 2p rumour is still doing the rounds. A man telephoned the other day (January 2005) asking what I would offer for a few 'Extremely rare' 1970's Twopences with 'New Pence' on the back. For some reason I found myself actually being polite to him, and I turned him down fairly gently and then revealed the truth. Updating this now in 2015, I still get the odd call about them!

For those of you that are still not aware, I'm likely to turn nasty soon, so please read what I wrote on the subject back in June 2003:

Rare 2p on sale on eBay (Image: eBay). A very small number of 2p coins in 1983 were printed with the words 'NEW PENCE' instead of just 'PENCE'. Because the two pence design has largely remained. Does this make the coin rare or valuable? All 2p coins struck between 1971 and 1981 included the words 'NEW PENCE' as part of their reverse. In 1982 and in subsequent years the words 'NEW PENCE' were replaced with the word 'TWO PENCE'. However, in 1983 a small number of 2p coins were mistakenly struck with the wording 'NEW PENCE' on the reverse. These coins were produced to brilliant uncirculated quality - a standard higher than ordinary circulating coins. After 1982 all 2p coins contained the text ‘two pence’ in the design. Before this, between 1971 and 1982, 2p coins read ‘new pence’. However, in 1983 a rogue batch of 2ps went into circulation minted with the incorrect ‘new pence’ design. Today these coins could be worth up to £1,250. 1971 New Pence 2 at Rare British Coins. 1971 New Pence 2 for sale – or find out what are 1971 New Pence 2 worth. We being you fine coins for serious numismatists. Search through 1000s of coins for sale right now.

I have been getting quite a number of enquiries regarding British two pence pieces (2 pees). It seems on Thursday 26th of June 2003 and then again on Thursday 6th November 2003, a Television Programme (Trading Treasures, BBC1 late morning/lunch time viewing) stated that certain Two Pence coins with the words 'New Pence' on the reverse are valuable.

To save more people writing in to ask me if the coins they have in their pockets are worth in excess of £300.00 and not the face value 2p, please let me put things straight...

The British 2p was introduced at decimalisation in 1971. Because all the coins were new the Royal mint put the words 'New Pence' on the coins. The coins remained with this wording until (and including) 1981. The back of all Two pence pieces dated between 1971 and 1981 will look like this:

In 1982 the Royal mint decided that the Two pence piece was not really that new anymore and replaced the word 'New' with the word 'Two'. They also did this with the other denominations that were introduced in 1971, the 'New Penny' became 'One Penny', and so on... So now from 1982 to now the back of the Two pence coin looks like this:

Without any exceptions all of the 1982 coins had 'Two Pence' on the back. However, and this is where the confusion comes from, in some years of the early 80's no Two pence coins were issued for general circulation and the 637,100 1983 dated coins that were produced all went into special sets containing one of each coin from that year. In a few of those sets the 2p coin was struck with the older ('New Pence' type) reverse by mistake and is indeed very rare.

The 1983 2p Coin with 'New Pence' on the reverse is the only rare coin, all of the others are very common and were struck in very high numbers.

From 1984 to 2003 all of the coins without exception have the 'Two Pence' reverse like they should.

So far, from the emails I have received I can now account for quite a few of the extremely rare 2p's! One chap even told me he had found 6! Now as far as I can work out the odds of finding just one of the rare 1983 2p's are 1 in over 14,000,000 going by the mintage numbers alone, the fact that all the 1983 coins went into sets, not circulation, decreases those odds even further! So to find 6 in your copper jar should be a one in 6,300,000,000 chance (six thousand, three hundred million (or 6.3 billion if you prefer counting the incorrect American way)). Now my maths is a little rusty, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

How can this be? Has a powerful wave of hope, misunderstanding, the ability to pay 6 months of mortgage repayments for 12p, the inability to find this page on my site (which has been linked from the front page since June 2003!) and perhaps just a little ignorance created a buzz across the nation?

A buzz so powerful, and resonating at just the right frequency that it was capable of changing the structure of solid bronze, turning millions of normal 2p's into 1983 2p's with New Pence written on them? No! Hope, no doubt has played a part in causing hundreds of people to email me and offer me their twopeneth worth, but the fact this programme seems to have been mis-understood by so many has now prompted me to contact the BBC to get a copy of it, watch it and find out if it does give a wrong impression, and why it was repeated again 4 months after its first showing!

In an attempt to make people aware of how common 99.999% of two pence coins are, here are the mintage numbers and values of all 2 pence coins from 1971 until 1989:

Info: Proof coins are specially struck using different techniques to normal coins and as a result have a mirror like appearance and are usually only produced for year sets.

Lustre is the 'shine' you get on coins when new. It gradually fades from handling and cannot be brought back even with polishing (and you should never polish coins)

Sources: Mintage numbers and values from Collectors Coins Great Britain published by Rotographic (available on this website). BBC Television programme details from Mrs V Broom.

Has this been useful? If so, please put a comment in the Forum.

Chris Perkins, 30th June 2003. Updated January 2005, December 2005 and 28th July 2015.

Read about predecimal denominations.
Read about grading coins.

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The 2p was first issued in 1971 (although 1971 coins were actually made available earlier in blue folders to enable the public to become familiar with them). With the penny, it is one of only two denominations that has been made to the same size specifications from decimalisation in 1971 right up to the present day.

Specifications are shown at the bottom of this page.

Obverse Type 1, used 1971 – 1984 (bust design by Arnold Machin):

Reverse Type 1, used 1971 – 1981 (and 1983 in error) (design by Christopher Ironside):

Edge: Plain.

The design:

The badge of the Prince of Wales with his motto ‘Ich Dien’ (I serve). ‘NEW PENCE’ above, ‘2’ below.

Dates:

1971, Mintage 1,454,856,250.
1972, None for circulation, an unknown amount for annual proof sets only.
1973, None for circulation, an unknown amount for annual proof sets only.
1974, None for circulation, an unknown amount for annual proof sets only.
1975, Mintage 145,545,000.
1976, Mintage 181,379,000.
1977, Mintage 109,281,000.
1978, Mintage 189,658,000.
1979, Mintage 260,200,000.
1980, Mintage 408,527,000.
1981, Mintage 353,191,000.

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 for the high mintage coins, 2 for 1972-1974 (for scale details see here)

Obverse Type 1, used 1971 – 1984 (bust design by Arnold Machin):

Reverse Type 2, used 1982 – 2008 (design by Christopher Ironside):

Edge: Plain.

The design:

The badge of the Prince of Wales with his motto ‘Ich Dien’ (I serve). ‘TWO PENCE’ above, ‘2’ below.

Dates:

1982, None for circulation, 205,000 for annual sets only.
1983, None for circulation, 631,000 for annual sets only.
1984, None for circulation, 158,820 for annual sets only.

Collectability/Scarcity (all): 2 (for scale details see here)

Obverse Type 1, mismatched with Reverse Type 1 for some 1983 coins

This rare coin, dated 1983 and with the ‘NEW PENCE’ reverse (type 1) was produced in error and appears to have only found its way into promotional packs of 1983 coins branded as either Heinz or Martini. It wasn’t actually noticed until decades later! To find one in circulation would be very rare indeed, in fact I don’t know of any confirmed examples that have been removed from their sets and circulated. There is still a lot of confusion and people getting the wrong end of the stick with the ‘NEW PENCE’ 2p reverses! It’s just the 1983 dated coin with the ‘NEW PENCE’ reverse that is rare. All the others were produced in high numbers.

Collectability/Scarcity (1983 NEW PENCE): 8 (for scale details see here)

Obverse Type 2, used 1985 – 1997 (bust design by Raphael Maklouf):

Reverse Type 2, used 1982 – 2008 (design by Christopher Ironside):

Edge: Plain.

Dates:

1985, Mintage 107,113,000.
1986, Mintage 168,967,500.
1987, Mintage 218,100,750.
1988, Mintage 419,889,000.
1989, Mintage 359,226,000.
1990, Mintage 204,449,700.
1991, Mintage 86,625,250.
1992, Mintage 102,247,000 in plated steel, 78,421 in bronze*.
1993, Mintage 235,674,000.
1994, Mintage 531,628,000.
1995, Mintage 124,482,000.
1996, Mintage 296,278,000.
1997, Mintage 496,116,000.

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 for all with the high mintage numbers, 2 for the bronze 1992 (for scale details see here)

*In 1992 the metal composition was changed from bronze to copper-plated steel (which is magnetic). The coins that went into the annual sets used bronze blanks and all of the coins issued for circulation were made of copper plated steel.

Note that there are also minor die differences concerning the reverses of two pence coins dated 1986-2008. Coins that went into BU annual sets often have minor differences in comparison to the coins that were for general circulation. More info here: http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/8211-portcullis-varieties-on-decimal-penny/?p=90600

Obverse Type 3, used 1998 – 2008 (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):

Rare 2p Coins 1980

Reverse Type 2, used 1982 – 2008 (design by Christopher Ironside):

Edge: Plain.

Dates:

1998, Mintage 213,830,000* (98,676,000 bronze and 115,154,000 copper plated steel).
1999, Mintage 353,816,000.
2000, Mintage 536,659,000.
2001 Mintage 551,880,000.
2002, Mintage 168,556,000.
2003, Mintage 260,225,000.
2004, Mintage 356,396,000.
2005 Mintage 280,396,000.
2006, Mintage 170,637,000.
2007, Mintage 254,500,000.
2008, Mintage 10,600,000.

Collectability/Scarcity (all): 1 (for scale details see here)

*In 1998 the Royal Mint seem to have had some bronze blanks left over that needed to be used up and this date occurs both in the standard copper-plated steel and in the earlier (pre 1992) bronze alloy. Also, the 1999 coins that were made for proof sets are also known in copper-plated steel and bronze.

Obverse Type 4, used 2008 – 2015 (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):

Reverse Type 3, used 2008 onwards (design by Matthew Dent):

Rare 2p Coins Isle Of Man

Edge: Plain.

The design:

The obverse is very similar to the previous but no longer has rim beads. The reverse is the upper right section of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.

Dates:

2008, Mintage 241,679,000.
2009, Mintage 150,500,500.
2010, Mintage 99,600,000.
2011 Mintage 114,300,000.
2012, Mintage 67,800,000.
2013, Mintage 40,600,000.
2014, Mintage 247,600,020.
2015, Mintage 89,900,000.

Obverse Type 5, used 2015 onwards (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type 3, used 2008 onwards (design by Matthew Dent):

Edge: Plain.

Dates:

Rare 2p Coins 1979

2015, Mintage 139,200,000.
2016, Mintage 185,660,000.
2017, Mintage 16,600,000.
2018, Mintage not yet known (what is known, is that none will appear in circulation, they can be found in sets only).
2019, Mintage not yet known.

Rare 2p Coins Value

Specifications for all current 2p coins:

Rare 2p Coins In Circulation

Size: 25.91mm
Width: 1.85mm (bronze), 2.03mm (copper-plated steel)
Metal Composition 1971 – 1992 (and some 1998 coins): Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin)
Metal Composition 1992 – date (except some 1998 coins): Steel core plated with copper.
Weight: 7.13 grammes

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