Commonwealth Games, Wales £2 (2002)

Fewer Wales coins were struck for circulation than England or Scotland, so the Commonwealth Games Wales £2 sells well above face value even with wear. A clear dragon, crisp lines on the athlete and an edge you can still read all add to the price, while heavy scratches and knocks on the rim take it away. Brilliant uncirculated coins fetch the most.

With 588,500 struck for circulation, the Commonwealth Games, Wales £2 is the third rarest of the 44 ranked £2 designs and has the 31st lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Rare band, for mintages 500,000 to 999,999.

The next rarer £2 is the Commonwealth Games, Northern Ireland £2, with 485,500 struck, and the next more common is the First World War Royal Navy £2, with 650,000 struck.

Look to the left of the athlete for a tiny dragon in a roundel: that is the Commonwealth Games Wales £2 coin. The other three versions all show crosses, St George for England, the saltire for Scotland and the Ulster Banner for Northern Ireland, so the dragon stands out even on a worn coin. The athlete, the ring legend with the date 2002 and the SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP edge are shared by all four, which makes the flag the only test.

The XVII Commonwealth Games came to Manchester in 2002, and the Welsh team finished ninth in the medal table with six gold, thirteen silver and twelve bronze medals. The Royal Mint gave each home nation its own £2 that year. All four use Matthew Bonaccorsi's design of an athlete sketched in flowing lines with a banner held high, and they differ only in the small flag to the left of the figure. On this coin the flag is the red dragon of Wales. The banner arcs over the upper left of the coin, crossing from the silver-coloured centre onto the gold-coloured ring. The value £2 is on the right, and the legend XVII COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2002 follows the ring from top to bottom on that side. The edge carries SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP and MANCHESTER 2002, and the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse is Ian Rank-Broadley's fourth.

It was one of the four coins in the Commonwealth Games 2002 set issued in 2002.