***RARE*** 1994 Royal Mint Trial "Minting The Two Pound Trial Piece"

Description

Rare 1994 "Minting the two pound trial piece" by the UK Royal Mint.
The first United Kingdom bi-colour coin.
A £2 coin is a familiar sight to us – the gold coloured outer ring with the silver-coloured inner section is instantly recognisable in our loose change. That bi-metallic style was first issued for general circulation in 1997.
But did you know that
the very first version was actually struck in 1994
?
Not many people know it exists, but it is
highly sought after
by collectors. The reason this coin has remained largely unknown is that it was only issued as a
trial piece
, and was never legal tender. Trial pieces are used by the Royal Mint to test the minting process of a new coin, and to help the automatic vending industry re-calibrate their machines in preparation.
Other than the handful given as samples for testing, this trial £2 coin was only ever issued in a presentation pack (pictured) and was billed as
“The United Kingdom’s first bi-colour coin”
.
The packs contained examples of the outer and inner blanks and a nickel-brass ring to demonstrate the stages of production involved with this innovative new style.
To put that into perspective, the £2 coin with the lowest mintage currently in circulation is the 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland design. It has a mintage of 485,500. This means the 1994 trial piece is
more than 100 times rarer
than the rarest £2 coin in circulation.
There were just over 4,500 packs issued which makes it an
incredibly rare example
of a bi-metallic £2 coin. What you see in the photos is what you will get.