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Three different £2 coins were issued in 2014. Two commemorative coins; one as part of a WWI series to mark the start of the first world war and another to mark the 500th anniversary of Trinity House. The standard coin with the ages of man reverse was also issued.
Commemorative £2 Coin, Type 31: (info on coin type numbers here)
Obverse Type 2b (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):
Reverse Type (design by John Bergdahl):
Edge: THE LAMPS ARE GOING OUT ALL OVER EUROPE.
Mintage for Circulation: 5,720,000
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. The reverse omits the denomination ‘TWO POUNDS’, so this has been incorporated into the obverse at the bottom.
The reverse by John Bergdahl shows Lord Kitchener from the well-known recruitment poster, originally by Alfred Leete:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28642846
Commemorative £2 Coin, Type 32: (info on coin type numbers here)
Obverse Type 2 (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):
Reverse Type (design by Joe Whitlock Blundell and David Eccles):
Edge: SERVING THE MARINER.
Mintage for Circulation: 3,705,000
Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)
The story behind the design:
The obverse has the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley. .
The reverse is by Joe Whitlock Blundell and David Eccles and shows the top of a Lighthouse. Trinity House was founded in 1514 to ensure ‘the safety of shipping and the well being of seafarers’. And it’s still very active:
http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/
The Standard Coin for 2015:
Obverse Type (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):
Reverse Type (design by Bruce Rushin):
Edge: STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS.
Mintage for Circulation: 18,200,000
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 technological 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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