Olympic handover, Beijing to London £2 (2008)

The Beijing handover £2 was issued into circulation, and even worn coins from change sell above face value. Among circulated coins, sharp detail on the flag, the fingers and the track lines is what lifts the price, while heavy wear flattens the small London 2012 emblem. The brilliant uncirculated version, sold in a Royal Mint presentation pack, is worth more than a coin from change, and a pack that has never been opened fetches the most.

With 918,000 struck for circulation, the Olympic handover, Beijing to London £2 is the ninth rarest of the 44 ranked £2 designs and has the 37th 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 Olympic Centenary £2, with 910,000 struck, and the next more common is the King James Bible £2, with 975,000 struck.

Two hands and a flag bearing the Olympic rings in the centre identify the Beijing handover £2 coin. On the ring, BEIJING 2008 reads on the left and LONDON 2012 on the right, over a background of running-track lines, with the London 2012 emblem at the foot of the coin. The 2012 Rio handover coin looks similar at a glance, but it shows a relay baton and a twisting flag. As both coins share their edge lettering, go by the picture rather than the edge.

On 6 July 2005 London was chosen to host the 2012 Olympic Games, bringing them back to the city for the first time since 1948, having first held them in 1908. When the Beijing Games closed on 24 August 2008, the Mayor of Beijing, Guo Jinlong, passed the Olympic flag to the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, who handed it on to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The Royal Mint marked that ceremony with this £2 coin, designed by its own engraving team. The flag with the five Olympic rings is shown travelling from a hand on the left to a hand on the right, and curved lines like the lanes of a running track circle the scene. BEIJING 2008 is lettered on the left of the outer ring and LONDON 2012 on the right. At the bottom, the London 2012 emblem crosses from the centre into the ring. The edge reads I CALL UPON THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD, part of the speech the IOC President makes at the end of every Games. Ian Rank-Broadley's fourth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is on the obverse.

The Olympic handover set began with it, and the Olympic handover, London to Rio £2 followed in 2012.