I am willing to bet that nobody reading this blog will ever have seen a coin like this one before. The reason I am so sure is that to my knowledge, there are only 7 others like it in existence. This is an extremely rare two pence piece struck mistakenly in cupro-nickel (a copper nickel alloy) in 1971. The most likely scenario for it being struck in the incorrect metal at the royal mint is that a nickel blank was left in the machine when they started to strike the two pence coins.
Why 7 others? While doing some reading I learned that they strike coins in lots of 8 at the mint so it is unlikely that the wrong blanks were used more than once. At least 2 of these coins have been found and sold at auction in the past few years and it is incredible to think that a coin which is still legal tender can make upwards of 50000 times its face value! The highest price I have found is over £1300 and sold at auction in England in 2014.
The one I have here is owned by a friend of mine who acquired it while working at a newsagents in 1971. He was stocking the till with change when he noticed a glint of silver in amongst the copper coins. He thought it looked interesting enough so he changed it for a normal 2p from his pocket and took it home. A few years later he sent it off to the Royal Mint to see if they could tell him any more about it. They replied with a signed letter confirming its authenticity as a genuine 2p coin struck in cupro-nickel.
My friend then allowed the coin to sit safely in a cupboard for more than 40 years, along with the letters from the Mint. When he heard about the recent discoveries and auctions he thought it was about time to sell the coin, which is exactly what he plans to do. The coin will be going to auction this year and I think he is guaranteed a profit on the investment he made 46 years ago!
I am willing to bet that nobody reading this blog will ever have seen a coin like this one before. The reason I am so sure is that to my knowledge, there are only 7 others like it in existence. This is an extremely rare two pence piece struck mistakenly in cupro-nickel (a copper nickel alloy) in 1971. The most likely scenario for it being struck in the incorrect metal at the royal mint is that a nickel blank was left in the machine when they started to strike the two pence coins.
The one I have here is owned by a friend of mine who acquired it while working at a newsagents in 1971. He was stocking the till with change when he noticed a glint of silver in amongst the copper coins. He thought it looked interesting enough so he changed it for a normal 2p from his pocket and took it home. A few years later he sent it off to the Royal Mint to see if they could tell him any more about it. They replied with a signed letter confirming its authenticity as a genuine 2p coin struck in cupro-nickel.
