RRS Discovery £2 (2025)

Every RRS Discovery £2 on the market is a collector coin, because none were made for circulation. The brilliant uncirculated version came in the Royal Mint pack and in retailers' own packaging, and silver proof, silver proof piedfort and gold proof versions were made in limited editions. Buyers pay more for a coin still sealed in its original pack. The masts, the penguins and the edge of the map are the delicate parts of the design, and a loose coin with scratches or rubbing there sells for less. Each proof is valued on its own.

The RRS Discovery £2 was not issued for circulation, so it has no rarity rank.

The RRS Discovery £2 shows a three-masted sailing ship above a small scene of polar wildlife: two penguins at the left and a whale's tail at the right, with a polar projection map of Antarctica below the ship. RRS DISCOVERY is lettered along the bottom of the yellow ring. The edge reads DESIGNED FOR ADVENTURE, and the obverse carries King Charles III. Its penguins and map set it apart from the HMS Beagle £2 coin, another sailing ship design.

RRS Discovery was built in Dundee in 1901 for polar exploration. She was the United Kingdom's first purpose-built scientific research ship and the last traditional wooden ship of her kind, and her voyages transformed what the world knew about Antarctica in the early twentieth century. Retired, she now sits in a purpose-built dock in Dundee as one of the city's leading visitor attractions. The Royal Mint's 2025 coin was the first to honour her on a UK coin, marking two anniversaries at once: the 125th of the ship's launch and the centenary of the Discovery Oceanographic Expedition. Gary Breeze, who designed the HMS Belfast £2 in the same year, shows Discovery in her heyday under three masts, framed by reminders of the far south. Beneath the hull are two penguins on the left, a whale's tail on the right and a polar projection map of Antarctica. RRS DISCOVERY runs along the bottom of the outer ring, and the edge reads DESIGNED FOR ADVENTURE. The Royal Mint pack describes her history and her place in science.