The Complete History of the £2 Coin

24th August 2010 - Bedlam Theatre - Fat Cat Café

LECTURE NOTES
(I start off with these, it may not reflect the actual content of the show).

• There have been 7 £2.00 coins between 1986 and 1996. 
• It is not, however the first bimetallic coin which was the bimetallic tin farthing in 1692.
  
• £2 coin outer ring:
• Colour: Yellow nickel
• Composition: 76% copper, 20% zinc, 4% nickel
• Inner disc:
• Colour: Steel-coloured cupro-nickel
• Composition: 75% copper, 25% nickel
  
•  Weight: 12g; 28.4mm diameter
• Edge stamped before centre is attached so text may appear either way up
• If you place the Canadian bimetallic coin in the freezer the centre will pop out, not so with the British £2.00
  
• Design trialed in '94 but never released as legal tender - some have appeared in display sets though.
• 97 saw the release of Raphael Maklouf's coin but it was delayed due to technical difficulties and released simultaneously with Ian Rank-Broadley's. 
• On regular issue coins the design represents technical development and features 19 cogs - this odd number of cogs means the machine would only function on a mobius strip (discovered by August Mobius 1858)
  
• Between 1997-2008 353,145,250 £2 coins were made. Average 29 million/year
  
• 19 special designs issued, most notably:
• Discovery of DNA
• The Gunpowder Plot
• Birth of Robert Burns
  
• Previous unimetallic coins have been made for special occasions which have the same metallic composition as a £1.00 coin but twice the metal. Designs include:
• The end of World War 2
• Tercentenary of the Scottish Claim of Right
  
•  This year's coin celebrates 150 years of nursing and the death of Florence Nightingale.