An expert explained what you need to look for
A coin expert has advised Brits to keep an eye out for two specific coins that could fetch over £1,000 if they feature certain errors. In a video shared on TikTok, the Coin Collecting Wizard pointed out two sought-after £2 coins that could potentially sell for up to £1,030 combined.
He stated: “£1,000 for this £2 coin and £30 for this one, but only if it has an error. Let’s find out more.”
The first coin he mentioned was the Lord Kitchener coin from 2014, minted to mark the beginning of the First World War. It bears a well-known image of Lord Kitchener on its reverse side.
The expert explained: “This is the First World War Lord Kitchener coin from 2014.” However, it’s only valuable if there’s an error on its obverse – the head side, where the words “two pounds” are missing.
He added: “On the correct version it says ‘two pounds’ on the obverse like below, but if you have the rare version it doesn’t say ‘two pounds’ like this one. Only a few of this error have ever been found and has a value of over £1,000.”
Around 5,720,000 Lord Kitchener £2 coins were produced by the Royal Mint, but only a small number contain this error. An American collector purchased an error version of a £2 coin for a substantial sum of £1,000 at an auction in February 2024.
He then drew attention to what’s known as the Shakespeare tragedies coin. This coin has an image of a skull on its reverse and should bear the inscription “what a piece of work is a man” along its edge, a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
However, a valuable mistake can be found where some coins erroneously state “for king and country”, a phrase intended solely for First World War commemorative coins. The expert elaborated: “This is the Shakespeare tragedies £2 coin from 2016 and some were minted with the wrong edge inscription.
“The edge inscription on this coin should read ‘what a piece of work is a man’, but some coins have the inscription ‘for king and country’ that was used for a different £2 coin.
“Check the edge of your Shakespeare coin. If it says ‘for king and country’ it is the error coin that is worth 20 times its face value. Do you have any of these error two pound coins?”
At the time of reporting, an example of this error coin was listed on eBay for £125.50.