2004 UK Coin £2 Gold Proof Locomotive

Buy the 2004 Steam Locomotive Gold Proof Two Pound Coin

This £2 coin was issued to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the first steam locomotive by Richard Trevithick.

• Struck in 22 carat gold
• Issued to a proof finish
• Comes in the original presentation box with certificate of authentication
• Limited Mintage 1,500

Issued by the Royal Mint to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Richard Trevithick's Steam Engine. 

The Industrial Revolution was a period that saw countries like Britain progress from being predominantly agrarian to being much more urbanised. The development of the steam engine played a crucial role in this transition.

Although steam-powered engines had been used from the early eighteenth century, they were often large and unreliable machines fixed into position to preform certain tasks. It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that a Cornishman, Richard Trevithick, revolutionised steam power by devising the first steam-driven locomotive engine.

Following a bet between Samuel Homfray, owner of the Penydarren Iron Works, and Richard Crayshaw, owner of the Cyfarthfa Iron works, in 1804 Trevithick built a steam engine that could haul ten tones of iron from the Penydarren works along a tramway to Navigation House in Abercynon; a total distance of nine miles. The journey was completed in four hours and five minutes. The first steam-powered vehicle had been driven on rail. Trevithick's engine was the first true steam locomotive.

This 2004 £2 coin was issued in a number of different finishes. Uncirculated for circulation, Brilliant Uncirculated in presentation folder and as proof coins. The proof coins were issued as silver proof, silver proof piedfort and gold proof. These proof issues come in a presentation box with a certificate.

The edge is milled with an added incuse design of two sets of curves, representing railway arches.

The obverse bears the fourth definitive UK coin portrait of Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley with the inscription ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF

Designed by Robert Lowe, the reverse bears an engraving of the original locamotive with the inscription TWO POUNDS R. TREVITHICK 1804 INVENTION INDUSTRY PROGRESS 2004