Description

Introduced in 2015 to mark the change from the Ian Rank-Broadley fourth portrait to the Jody Clark fifth portrait of The Queen, the design reintroduced Britannia which had not featured on circulating coins since the 2008 50 pence. The new depiction of Britannia replaced Bruce Rushin’s ‘History of Technological Achievement’ design that has been a constant feature on the £2 coin since its first issue in 1997.

Normally all modern British coins are aligned such that when turned on a vertical axis (finger and thumb at the top and bottom of the Queen) the reverse should also be the right way up, i.e. Britannia’s head should be at the top in the 12 O’clock position. This is what numismatists call medal alignment. For a few 2015 Britannia coins (and possibly a lot more) one of the dies has rotated resulting in incorrect alignment. When the ‘heads’ side is held at the top and bottom and the coin is rotated, Britannia’s head is facing towards about 4 O’clock and is therefore out by about 100 degrees. Another has been seen which is almost upside-down, i.e. more than 100 degrees. Such errors shouldn’t be possible as the Royal Mint fix the dies in position and they shouldn’t be physically able to rotate.

In 2022, a special memorial coin set was released to mark the end of Queen Elizabeth II's 70-year reign and the start of a new era in the British monarchy. Each of the definitive coins bears a unique privy mark (26/22) on the obverse, which shows the Queen's birth year and the year of her passing.