Summary of mono-metallic £2 coins

[Deeman]

Thought it might be interesting to provide some descriptive text to summarise the £2 mono-metallic coins.

All bore the third portrait by Raphael Maklouf (1985-1997) with the Queen wearing George IV State Diadem.
Obverse legend: Elizabeth II Dei Gratia Regina F D, from southwest to southeast with Two Pounds running in the gap.

1986 XIII Commonwealth Games
Edge inscription: XIII Commonwealth Games Scotland 1986.
The design shows St Andrew's Cross surmounted by a Scottish thistle and a crown of laurel leaves.
Held in Edinburgh between 24 Jul and 2 Aug 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh and unlike the 1970 Games, which were popular and successful, the 1986 Games were ill-famed for the wide political boycott connected with them and the resulting financial mismanagement. The majority of Commonwealth nations staged a boycott, meaning that the Games appeared largely to be a whites-only event. Thirty-two of the eligible fifty-nine countries, largely African, Asian and Caribbean states, stayed away because of the government's policy of keeping Britain's sporting links with apartheid South Africa in preference to participating in the general sporting boycott of that country.

1989 Tercentenary of Bill of Rights
Edge is plain and milled.
The design shows the cypher of W&M (King William III and Queen Mary) interlaced, surmounting a horizontal parliamentary mace with the Royal Crown above.
The Bill of Rights was an act of the English parliament dealing with constitutional matters, setting out basic civil rights and inviting William III and Mary II in Feb 1689 to become joint sovereigns of England. It is one of the basic instruments of the British constitution, the result of the long 17th-century struggle between the Stuart kings and the English people and Parliament. The main purpose of the act was unequivocally to declare illegal various practices of James II.
In the Glorious Revolution, William of Orange landed with his army in England on 5 Nov 1688. King James II (James VII of Scotland) attempted to resist the invasion, but finally fled England on 23 Dec 1688. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch.

1989 Tercentenary of Claim of Right
Edge is plain and milled.
Same design as for the Bill of Rights.
The Claim of Right was an act of the Scottish parliament that stripped James VII of his Scottish crown and passed it to King William III and Queen Mary.
Whilst the Convention Parliament in England declared that James, as King of England, had abdicated the Government, and issued an English Bill of Rights on 13 Feb 1689 offering the Crown of England to William and Mary, the Scots found themselves facing a more difficult constitutional problem. As James had not been present in Scotland during the crisis and had not fled from Scottish territory in December, it would be highly dubious to claim that he had abdicated the Scottish throne. The 1689 Convention of Estates (comprising the three estates of bishops, barons and representatives of the Burghs) sat between 16 Mar and 5 Jun 1689 to determine the settlement of the Scottish throne, following the deposition of James VII in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. The throne was offered to Mary and William, who was granted regal power on the basis he held the throne de facto, by right of conquest. On 11 Apr, the Convention ended James' reign and adopted the Articles of Grievances and Claim of Right Act, making Parliament the primary legislative power in Scotland. On 11 May 1689, William and Mary accepted the Scottish throne and the Convention became a full Parliament on 5 Jun.

1994 Bank of England tercentenary
Edge inscription: SIC VOS NON VOBIS 'thus we labour, but not for ourselves'.
The design shows the Bank's corporate seal with the crown and cypher of King William III and Queen Mary above.
The need for a central bank in England was seen by a Scotsman, William Paterson, who noticed that the nation's finances had been in disarray and had no real system of money or credit. The Bank of England began as a private bank that acted as a banker to the Government. It was primarily founded to fund the war effort against France. The King and Queen of the time, William and Mary, were two of the original stockholders. The original Royal Charter of 1694, granted by King William and Queen Mary, explained that the Bank was founded to 'promote the public Good and Benefit of our People'. The Bank of England opened for business on 1 Aug 1694 in temporary accommodation in the Mercers' Hall in Cheapside, London.
The edge inscription was the motto of William Paterson. The phrase originates from the poet Virgil who wrote it in response to finding that another poet of his time had plagiarised him. Translated but somewhat closer to the original than the Bank's interpretation would be 'for you, but not yours.'

1994 Trial
As part of the 1994 coinage review, two options were considered for the introduction of a circulating £2 coin, one being a mono-metallic nickel-brass coin and the other a bi-metal coin.
The design on both trials shows Christopher Ironside's Mayflower (chosen for illustrative purposes from a 1970 medal to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the ship) that famously transported the first English Puritans, known as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth to the New World in 1620.
The mono-metallic trial had 'Royal Mint Trial' to the right of the Queen's head and again on the reverse to the left of the Mayflower with the addition of 1994 to the right of the ship.
Edge is plain and milled.
A limited number were produced for use in handling tests.

1995 50th Anniversary of VE Day
Edge inscription: 1945 In Peace Goodwill 1995.
Stylised representation of a dove holding an olive branch as the universal symbol of peace.
The date is only on the edge and does not appear on either obverse or reverse.
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day, is a day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of WW II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on the 8 May 1945.
Millions of people rejoiced in the news that Germany had surrendered, relieved that the intense strain of total war was finally over. In towns and cities across the world, people marked the victory with street parties, dancing and singing.
The edge inscription is an excerpt taken from the famous 'moral' in Churchill's The Second World War.
"In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill."

1995 50th Anniversary of the United Nations
Edge is plain and milled.
Design shows the 50th anniversary symbol of the United Nations and an array of flags.
In 1945, nations were in ruin. WWII was over and the world wanted peace.
The UN was founded on 24 Oct 1945. The main bodies of the UN are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat.
The UN succeeded the ineffective League of Nations, which was founded in Jan 1920 following the Paris Peace Conference that ended WWI.

1996 European Football Championships
Edge inscription: Tenth European Championship.
Stylised representation of a football, with the date centrally placed and encircled by sixteen small rings representing the number of teams that qualified for the finals.
Hosted by England and won by Germany who beat England in the semi-finals.

[Figleaf]

This was consulted 50 times in the first two days of its existence. That's a loud and clear sign that it is found interesting. Thank you for compiling this listing.

Peter