The incredible story of WWI aviation showcased by the Royal Mint with new proof coins

Every year the Royal Mint issues a range of new designs for its circulating currency and we glanced at those back in our first post of 2017, but as the year progresses they also issue precious metal variants of each coin. It’s time for the £2 coin to get that treatment and it’s one we liked a lot when it debuted. Part of the Royal Mint’s commemorative programme for the centenary of the First World War, the design looks to the fledgling air war for its inspiration.

It’s hard to believe that powered flight wasn’t even a decade old at the time of the wars outbreak, but in the space of just a few years, airpower was not only born, but matured to a level it could influence the outcome against types of warfare millenia old. The bravery of those that took to the skies in those fragile craft flying over a war-zone cannot be overestimated and it seems fitting that they’re remembered with such a great coin design.

Depicting an aircraft from above, it shows the plane performing a recce mission over a trench-riddled landscape. Designed by Henry Gray, it’s a hugely attractive and clever design, one of the finest Great War-themed coins to be released so far in our opinion. As usual with a Royal Mint coin, the obverse is centred around the Jody Clark effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. The only negative for me is the use of the two metals, the line of which bisects the design, but this is a £2 coin so that’s unavoidable.

Three versions are available. The silver coin with the gilded border comes in 12g and 24g variants. Both have the same diameter, the larger coin simply being a double-thickness ‘piedfort’. The gold is half an ounce in weight and while both sections are 0.9167 fineness (22kt), they’re different alloys. The inner bullet is of yellow gold, usually formed when the gold is mixed with silver, and the outer ring of red gold, that picking up its colour by being alloyed with copper like a Krugerrand. This has the same diameter as the silver coins and indeed the original circulating £2. Available now, the silver coins sell for £67.50 and £110.00, with the gold coming in at £825.00. A brilliant-uncirculated base metal version with an unlimited mintage is also available for £10.

2017 CENTENARY OF FIRST WORLD WAR AVIATION PROOF COINS

MINTS DESCRIPTION

The Royal Mint is to continue its First World War ‘Outbreak to Armistice’ collection with the 2017 Aviation £2 coin, marking the contribution of aviators during the conflict.

At the time of the outbreak of the First World War, few people believed that aircraft would play a major role. Hot-air balloons had been used for observation and reconnaissance for almost 100 years and it was thought planes would serve a similar purpose.

The Royal Flying Corps, the aviation branch of the British Army, began its life as an ‘eye in the air’, reporting on the positioning of enemy forces and providing a tactical advantage. It grew from a force of a few hundred aeroplanes in 1914 into a huge, independent air arm of thousands of combat and support aircraft. In 1918 the Royal Flying Corps became the Royal Air Force we know today and has defended the skies ever since.

The coin was designed by Henry Gray of agency, tangerine design. The grandfather of tangerine director Dan Flashman, flew reconnaissance over the trenches.

“In this design we see two airmen, a pilot and his observer of the Royal Flying Corps, in a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8. They are performing a reconnaissance flight over an area of the Battle of Arras in April, 1917. The land below the plane is shown as a map; this helps to strengthen the narrative of this particular moment in history.”

SPECIFICATION

NAME SILVER PIEDFORT GOLD
DENOMINATION £2 UKP £2 UKP £2 UKP
COMPOSITION 0.925 silver 0.925 silver 0.9167 silver
WEIGHT 12.0 grams 24.0 grams 15.97 grams
DIAMETER 28.40 mm 28.40 mm 28.40 mm
FINISH Proof Proof Proof
MODIFICATIONS Gilded outer Gilded outer Two gold alloy types
MINTAGE 7,000 3,500 634
BOX / COA Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes
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