Lord Kitchener Mule £2 (2014)

The Kitchener mule is known only as a circulation coin, so wear is expected and matters far less than proof that the coin is right. The deciding detail is the missing TWO POUNDS under the portrait. Buyers pay most for coins with that detail clearly visible and backed by expert authentication, such as a letter from The Royal Mint Museum. Ordinary Kitchener coins listed as errors, with the value present, carry no mule premium.

No circulation mintage has been published for the Lord Kitchener Mule £2, so it has no rarity rank.

Start with any 2014 £2 showing Kitchener pointing above YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU, then turn it over. On a normal coin the words TWO POUNDS sit below the Queen's neck. On the Kitchener mule the legend around the portrait reads only ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF, and the space below is empty, so the denomination appears nowhere on the coin. Everything else matches the standard coin, including the edge inscription THE LAMPS ARE GOING OUT ALL OVER EUROPE.

A mule is a coin struck from two dies that were never meant to meet, and the name comes from the animal bred from a horse and a donkey. This one began with John Bergdahl's reverse for the 2014 £2 marking the outbreak of the First World War: Lord Kitchener in his peaked cap, pointing straight out above YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU, with THE FIRST WORLD WAR 1914-1918 around the top and 2014 below. That design leaves out the value, so a normal Kitchener coin carries TWO POUNDS under the Queen's portrait instead. On the mule, the portrait is ringed only by ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF. The Trinity House £2 of the same year carries its value below the lighthouse, so its heads side has none, like the mule's. The Royal Mint Museum has confirmed in letters to collectors that the wrong obverse die was used. How many were struck is not recorded, and an example sold at auction in February 2024.