Prince of Wales Feathers (NEW PENCE) 2p (1971 to 1981)

Worn NEW PENCE 2ps of every circulation date trade at face value, and the first year is the most plentiful of all. The coins collectors pay for are the proof-only 1972, 1973 and 1974 dates, and uncirculated coins that still have their original mint colour. Of the circulation years, 1977 had the smallest run. A silver coloured 2p needs a closer look, since a genuine wrong-blank coin is an error while a silver proof from a set is an ordinary collector piece.

With 3,102,637,250 struck for circulation, the Prince of Wales Feathers (NEW PENCE) 2p is the second rarest of the 3 ranked 2p designs and has the 187th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.

The next rarer 2p is the Royal Shield 2p, with 1,537,079,520 struck, and the next more common is the Prince of Wales Feathers (TWO PENCE) 2p, with 6,508,341,200 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 1977, with 109,281,000 struck.

Look for the three feathers in a coronet with NEW PENCE above and a large 2 below, inside a beaded border. A feathers 2p reading TWO PENCE was struck in 1982 or later. Turn the coin over to find the date in the legend around the Queen. Circulation dates are 1971 and 1975 to 1981; a 1972, 1973 or 1974 coin came from a proof set. A silver coloured 2p of this type may have been struck on a blank meant for another coin, such as a 10p, though silver proofs from sets are not that error.

Known varieties of the Prince of Wales Feathers (NEW PENCE) 2p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• Silver coloured 2p (wrong blank): A 2p struck on a blank meant for another coin, such as a cupro-nickel 10p, comes out silver coloured. Examples are known dated 1971 to 1981. Silver proof 2p coins from sets are not this error.

The 2p arrived with the decimal system itself. It was first issued on 15 February 1971, Decimal Day, and some coins had been handed out beforehand in blue folders so the public could get used to the new money. Christopher Ironside's reverse shows the badge of the Prince of Wales: a plume of three ostrich feathers rising through a coronet of crosses pattee and fleurs-de-lis, above a ribbon carrying the motto ICH DIEN, meaning I serve, its two words split either side of the badge. NEW PENCE curves along the top, the numeral 2 sits below and a beaded border runs round the edge. NEW PENCE stayed on the reverse until 1981; from 1982 it read TWO PENCE instead. Its obverse carried Arnold Machin's portrait of the Queen with the date, and the coin itself was bronze. No 2ps were struck for circulation from 1972 to 1974, when the date appeared only in proof sets.