Gunpowder Plot £2 (2005)

The Gunpowder Plot £2 went into change in large numbers, so circulated coins are worth face value. Worn coins are sometimes offered as a rare PEMEMBER error, but the misreading comes from wear and adds nothing to a coin's value. Coins from presentation packs show a smoother edge. Brilliant uncirculated coins in a sealed Royal Mint pack are what collectors pay more for.

With 5,140,500 struck for circulation, the Gunpowder Plot £2 is the 30th rarest of the 44 ranked £2 designs and has the 106th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Uncommon band, for mintages 2,500,000 to 9,999,999.

The next rarer £2 is the Trevithick Steam Locomotive £2, with 5,004,500 struck, and the next more common is the Euro 96 £2, with 5,141,350 struck.

Look for a whirl of swords, maces and crosiers in the centre, like a Catherine wheel, with stars scattered around it. Two dates separated by a star run across the top of the gold-coloured ring, and TWO POUNDS sits at the bottom. The edge reads REMEMBER REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER. On worn coins the R can look like a P, giving PEMEMBER or NOVEMBEP; that comes from wear against the edge milling, not from a minting error.

Known varieties of the Gunpowder Plot £2, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• PEMEMBER edge: Worn coins can read PEMEMBER, PEMEMBEP or NOVEMEBEP on the edge, because the R looks like a P. This is wear, not a minting error: the down-stroke of the R lines up with the edge milling. Coins from presentation packs show a smoother edge.

In the early seventeenth century a group of English Catholics planned to kill King James I by blowing up the House of Lords at the opening of Parliament on 5 November. Guy Fawkes was caught the night before while guarding barrels of gunpowder, and he was executed along with seven of his fellow plotters. The Royal Mint marked the four hundredth anniversary in 2005 with a £2 designed by Peter Forster. His reverse arranges crosiers, maces and swords, symbols of the state, into a circular pattern like a spinning Catherine wheel, and surrounds it with stars for fireworks. The year of the plot and 2005, separated by a star, sit at the top of the outer ring, more stars run down both sides, and TWO POUNDS is at the bottom. The edge carries REMEMBER REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER, and the obverse shows Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.