Dame Vera Lynn £2 (2022)

The Vera Lynn £2 was not struck for circulation, so every coin on the market is a brilliant uncirculated or proof coin. Loose coins in capsules, sealed certified cards and the Royal Mint pack all sell, and an unopened pack sells ahead of a loose coin. On a loose coin, check her cheek and the curls over the ring for rubbing. The design was also struck in silver and gold proof, as a piedfort and on five-ounce silver and gold coins, and each of those is valued separately.

The Dame Vera Lynn £2 was not issued for circulation, so it has no rarity rank.

The Vera Lynn £2 has a front-facing portrait of a woman with curled hair, her head tilted a little to the left, taking up most of the silver-coloured centre. Her curls cross onto the yellow outer ring on the right. DAME VERA LYNN reads up the left of the ring, with 1917 - 2020 just inside it at the upper left. The edge inscription is WE'LL MEET AGAIN, and Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is on the obverse.

Vera Lynn found her voice in the working men's clubs of London's East End and became the sound of Britain's Second World War. Her radio programme, Sincerely Yours, reached servicemen far from home, and songs such as We'll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover earned her the name the Forces' Sweetheart. After the war her fame spread abroad, and in 1952 she became the first British artist to reach number one in the United States, with Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart. She kept recording and performing into her eighties and nineties, campaigned for veterans' and children's charities, and died in June 2020. The Royal Mint's own design team created this 2022 tribute, made under licence from Margaret Lynn Limited. It shows Dame Vera as she looked at the height of her fame, facing the viewer with her head turned slightly, her curled hair spilling over into the outer ring. DAME VERA LYNN runs up the left side of the ring and the years of her life sit just inside it. The edge carries the title of one of her best-loved songs, WE'LL MEET AGAIN.