2009 Two Pounds

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Three different £2 coins were issued in 2009. Two commemorative coins, one to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and another to mark 250 years since the birth of Robert Burns. The standard coin with the ages of man reverse was also issued.

Commemorative £2 Coin, Type 21: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type 2 (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):

2pounds2014obvtrin

Reverse Type (design by Suzie Zamit):

2pounds2009darwin

Edge: ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 1859.

Mintage for Circulation: 3,903,000.

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

The story behind the design:

The obverse has the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley. Both 2009 commemorative £2 coins omit the date on their reverse, so this has been incorporated into the obverse and is shown at the bottom.

The reverse is by Suzie Zamit and shows a bust of Charles Darwin facing an ape. Charles Darwin was a naturalist and was the first to put forward the idea of natural selection:

http://darwin-online.org.uk/biography.html

Commemorative £2 Coin, Type 22: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type 2c (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):

2pounds2009burnso

Reverse Type (design by Royal Mint in-house):

2pounds2009burnsr

Edge: SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT.

Mintage for Circulation: 3,253,000.

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

The story behind the design:

The obverse has the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley. Both 2009 commemorative £2 coins omit the date on their reverse, so this has been incorporated into the obverse and is shown at the bottom.

The reverse features the hand written excerpt ‘we’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne’ from Rober Burns’ 1788 Scots poem ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Widely regarded as the Scottish national poet, Burns was born on the 25th January 1759:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns

The Standard Coin for 2009:

Obverse Type (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):

2pounds1998-obv

Reverse Type (design by Bruce Rushin):

2poundsStandardrev

Edge: STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS.

Mintage for Circulation: 8,775,000.

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

The story behind the design:

The obverse portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley has been used on all UK coinage from 1998 to 2015 and is the fourth portrait of the Queen used on coinage. At the time of writing, this portrait is due to be replaced by a new one, to be unveiled in 2015.

The reverse design shows the ages of man. Represented are the Iron Age, the Industrial Revolution, the Electronic Age and the Internet Age. The edge quote ‘STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS’ is from a letter by Sir Isaac Newton from 1676 in which he wrote: ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’, which may have been a modest nod to other scientists, but some say that it may have been poking fun at the stature of the recipient of the letter, Robert Hooke. The expression ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’ pre-dates Newton by many centuries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants

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