RARE LORD KITCHENER £2 COIN GOES UP FOR SALE ON VALENTINE’S DAY IN WILTSHIRE

A rare and valuable £2 coin featuring an image of Lord Kitchener will be auctioned in Wiltshire this month.

The coin features the image of Lord Kitchener, famously used on recruiting posters during the First World War, however it has a fault and it’s the error which makes this coin so valuable.

The auction house’s estimate is at least £1,200 and it’s believed to be the rarest documented ‘error’ coin in circulation. 

Coin specialist and YouTube influencer Christopher Collects works with RWB Auctions in Royal Wootton Bassett, which will host the sale of this coin and many others on Wednesday February 14. 

He said: ‘The Royal Mint carefully controls the coins that are released into circulation so it's very unusual to find modern UK coins with mistakes. 

‘There have only been a handful of 2014 Kitchener ‘error’ £2 coins found, making them perhaps the rarest coin that can be found in your change. Everyone knows about the Kew Gardens 50p but there were 210,000 of those minted - this error coin is on a completely different level.”

Some 5,720,000 of the Lord Kitchener £2 coins were produced by The Royal Mint in 2014 to mark 100 years since the outbreak of the conflict.

While the standard Lord Kitchener £2 coins are fairly common there is an extremely rare variant where the coin is missing its denomination. Usually these coins have the words ‘TWO POUNDS’ on the heads side, along with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, but this ‘error’ coin does not.

The coin up for auction has been authenticated by the experts at The Royal Mint Museum who confirm that the wrong heads design was stamped onto the coin during production. A signed letter from the museum’s Information and Research Manager is to be sold with the coin as evidence.

‘Since they are so scarce, these Kitchener coins attract serious attention when they come up for sale, and I know lots of coin hunters will be watching this auction closely,” Christopher said. 

The rare Kitchener £2 coin is to go under the hammer on 14 February as part of a specialist coin and medal sale at RWB Auctions in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. Interested collectors can view the coin by appointment and bid online via www.rwbauctions.com