1994 UK Coin £2 Gold Proof Bank Of England Mule

A fantastic opportunity to buy the 1994 Bank of England Gold Proof £2 Coin - MULE

Mints are like any other factory, and make errors from time to time.

In 1994, the Royal Mint issued a 22 carat gold proof version of the £2 commemorative coin for the 300th anniversary of the Bank of England. The wrong obverse (head side) die was used when production commenced; the die used on this coin was the one for the double sovereign. We do not know how many had been produced when the error was discovered, it may have been the entire 1,000 piece issue limit. Certainly a few hundred pieces had been despatched to customers before the error was found.

View all 1994 Bank of England £2 Coins.

Bank of England

One of the first decisions of the Court of Directors in 1694 was the choice of Britannia "looking on a bank of mony" as the Bank's corporate seal. By that time she had assumed her place on the coinage, having graced halfpennies and farthings for more than twenty years and she has been depicted on the coinage of every monarch since Charles II. She was not forgotten at the time of decimalisation when she was chosen to appear on the reverse of the new fifty pence coin and Britain's favourite modern bullion coin, the Britannia; Philip Nathan's Britannia stands proudly on the reverse of the highest denomination coins in the realm. So potent a symbol is she and so inextricably linked with the coinage, that she has appeared on every printed banknote issued by the Bank of England. It is entirely fitting, therefore, that in the same guise as she appeared on the Bank's corporate seal she should hold sway on the reverse of the commemorative £2 coin struck for the Bank's tercentenary.

Pound Sterling

The gold proof pound sterling coin is British legal tender and is exempt from capital gains tax. This coin has the added collectability value of being a mule coin - an error which occurred when incorrect dies were paired to strike a coin.

The obverse (head side) is the third major portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, designed by Ralph David Maklouf, FRSA. It came into use in 1985 and continued until 1997 inclusive, a total of thirteen years.

The obverse inscription reads:

ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG F D

It omits the wording "TWO POUNDS" which should have been under the portrait.
On the error coin, the portrait is also much larger than on the normal version.

The engraving on the reverse was created by Leslie Durbin. It reflects the period in which the Bank was founded with the Bank's original corporate seal, the crown and cypher of William and Mary and the words Bank of England in familiar script.