£2 Coins
The 2025 UK Royal Greenwich Observatory £2 – where space meets time
The 2025 UK Royal Greenwich Observatory £2 originally appeared in the 2025 Annual Coin Set, but has now been individually issued!
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350 Years of Navigation
In 1675, King Charles II commissioned what would become one of the most influential scientific institutions in the world – the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
Located in Greenwich, the Royal Observatory is quite literally the place where the world divides into the East and West Hemispheres, and it’s been at the centre of science, astronomy and navigation for three and a half centuries.
Image Credit: Josh268950 via Wikimedia Commons
From establishing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to guiding explorers across oceans, this historic site has played a pivotal role in how we measure space and time. And now, that story has been beautifully captured on a £2 coin.
A treasure trove of symbolism
Designed by Henry Gray, the reverse of this £2 coin is a treasure trove of symbolism, paying tribute to the Observatory’s rich legacy.
Within the reverse design, you’ll spot:
The Shepherd Gate Clock – one of the first public displays of Greenwich Mean Time.
The constellation Ursa Minor and its brightest star, Polaris – a guiding light in the night sky for navigators across the globe.
The Prime Meridian line on a globe – separating the eastern and western hemispheres.
The coin also includes the edge inscription ‘PERFECTING THE ART OF NAVIGATION’, taken from the Observatory’s founding Royal Warrant.
Not the first ‘time’ GMT has featured on a UK coin
In 2018, The Royal Mint released a series of 26 10ps, each featuring a letter of the alphabet and representing something quintessentially British beginning with that letter. The G 10p represented Greenwich Mean Time with the letter ‘G’ and a globe showing the Prime Meridian line.
220,000 G 10ps were issued in 2018 and a further 84,000 entered circulation in 2019. All of the A-Z 10ps are widely regarded as the hardest commemorative coins to find in circulation, due to their tiny mintages and the fact that up to 75% of them are thought to have been taken out of circulation by collectors.
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The 2025 George Orwell £2 is watching you…
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
You might recognise this motto from the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), perhaps one of George Orwell’s best known works. And if you’re a fan of Orwell’s stories, you’ll be delighted to hear that a UK £2 coin has been issued to celebrate his life and works.
An ‘eye’ for detail
The 2025 UK George Orwell £2 has been issued 75 years after the passing of English novelist, poet, journalist and social critic, Eric Arthur Blair – better known by his pen name George Orwell.
The reverse design, created by Henry Gray in collaboration with the Orwell Foundation, features an illustration of an eye in reference to the all-seeing Big Brother from Orwell’s final novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the centre of the eye is a camera lens surrounded by the iconic tagline “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, and yet another famous quote from the story, “THERE WAS TRUTH AND THERE WAS UNTRUTH”, serves as the coin’s edge inscription.
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Other works
During his life, Orwell penned several novels including Animal Farm, A Clergyman’s Daughter and Keep the Aspidistra Flying, as well as three nonfiction works, and he was even named the second-greatest British writer since 1945 by The Times in 2008, second only to Philip Larkin.
Image credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
However, his 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four remains one of the most influential books in popular and political culture, with many words and phrases from the story becoming part of the English language.
Previous UK coins issued to celebrate British literature and legendary writers have proven incredibly popular with collectors. We’ve seen the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle feature on UK coins in recent years, and George Orwell is a welcome addition.
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Secure the 2025 UK George Orwell £2 for just £9.99 (+p&p) >>
The 2025 HMS Belfast £2 is setting sail for your collection!
The latest UK £2 coin commemorates one of the most iconic ships in the Royal Navy, HMS Belfast, whose legacy has endured from its days in World War II right up to today, where it stands preserved as a floating museum on the River Thames.
And excitingly, this is the FIRST 2025 dated £2 coin to be released!
HMS Belfast in stunning detail
HMS Belfast is one of the most iconic Royal Navy ships that served in some of the most pivotal events of the 20th century, including escorting Arctic convoys in 1943, the Battle of North Cape later that year and even supported the Normandy landings on D-Day in 1944. A vessel steeped in so much history, it’s only fitting that HMS Belfast now has a UK coin dedicated to her.
The design of the 2025 UK HMS Belfast £2 has been created by designer and sculptor Gary Breeze with the assistance of Imperial War Museums. It perfectly captures the ship’s historic significance, showing it as it appeared in the 1960s, accompanied by the ship’s motto in Latin – ‘PRO · TANTO · QVID · RETRIBVAMVS’ as the edge inscription.
Secure your 2025 UK HMS Belfast £2 for just £9.99 (+p&p) >>
But isn’t there already a UK HMS Belfast coin?
You may be reading this thinking to yourself, isn’t there already a HMS Belfast coin in circulation?
Well, you may be thinking of the 2015 First World War Navy £2 coin, which is often affectionately nicknamed the ‘HMS Belfast coin’ due to the battleship’s striking resemblance to the town-class light cruiser.
The Royal Mint never officially designated the ship on the 2015 coin as the HMS Belfast, but the similarity sparked widespread affection for the coin, and it’s remained a favourite among collectors for almost a decade.
The 2025 UK HMS Belfast £2, however, leaves no room for ambiguity as the ship features unmistakeably in the centre of the design.
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