2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 Coin
The 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 is a circulating £2 with 918,000 made. Value band: small premium. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2008
- Circulation mintage
- 918,000
- Value band
- Small premium
- Designer
- The Royal Mint Engraving Team
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 worth?
At 918,000, the 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 has a smaller run than most £2 coins, so collectors pay a small premium for it, especially in uncirculated condition. Well circulated examples sit close to face value.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with crisp edge lettering
- Original Royal Mint pack or presentation folder
- A genuine mint error such as a misaligned or wrong edge, confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 rare?
- It is scarcer than most £2 coins. Collectors pay a small premium for good examples.
- How many 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 coins were made?
- 918,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2?
- The design is credited to The Royal Mint Engraving Team.
- What is the 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 made of?
- Bimetallic: cupronickel center in a nickel-brass outer ring. It weighs 12.0 g and measures 28.4 mm.
- Is the 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 still legal tender?
- Yes. Every two-metal £2 coin, commemoratives included, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 was made
When the Beijing Games ended in August 2008, the Olympic flag was handed over to London at the closing ceremony. That moment made the 2012 Games feel real to a lot of people in Britain. The Royal Mint marked it with this £2. It was one of a pair of Olympic £2 coins dated 2008. Its partner celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the 1908 London Games, so between them the two coins look back a century and forward four years.
The handover coin was struck in modest numbers by £2 standards. Just 918,000 were made for circulation, a small figure next to the millions struck for most commemoratives of the period. It went out into change like any other £2, but Olympic coins drew attention from the start and many were set aside by people who spotted the rings. Interest rose again as London 2012 approached, so fewer turn up in change today than the mintage suggests. The design was produced in house by the Royal Mint Engraving Team rather than by an outside artist.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows a flag bearing the five Olympic rings, passed from a hand on the left to a hand on the right. BEIJING 2008 sits to the left of the flag and LONDON 2012 to the right, so the whole handover is spelled out on the coin. At the bottom the London 2012 logo overlaps both the silver-colored center and the gold-colored ring. That detail helps separate it from the 2012 Rio handover coin, which also shows hands but puts the logo at the very top. Turn it on its side and the edge should read I CALL UPON THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD, words taken from the formal call to the next Games spoken at an Olympic closing ceremony. The Royal Mint Engraving Team designed it.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 ranks 9th lowest of 42 circulating £2 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2008 London Olympics 1908 £2 (910,000); the next more common is the 2011 King James Bible £2 (975,000).
For scale, the most common is the 2005 End of World War II (VE Day 60) £2 with 10.2 million, about 11 times as many. The scarcest is the 1989 Claim of Right £2 with 381,400, 2.4 times fewer than this one.
It shared 2008 with 1 other circulating £2 design: the London Olympics 1908 (910,000). The 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2 was the most plentiful of the year.
What to check on your 2008 Olympic Handover to London £2
- Read the edge. It should say I CALL UPON THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD. A wrong or missing edge inscription is the quickest sign of a counterfeit.
- Check the two metals: a silver-colored center and a gold-colored ring, with the ring tight and level all the way around.
- Weigh it: a genuine two-metal £2 weighs 12.0 g. Fakes are often a little light and softer in detail.
- Compare the portrait and lettering with a known genuine coin. Blurry letters, a flat portrait or uneven spacing point to a copy.
With 918,000 struck, this is one of the scarcer circulating £2 coins and sits near the bottom of the mintage tables for the denomination. Even worn examples draw a collector premium, with crisp coins free of rim knocks getting more attention. Because it is wanted, it has been faked. Check that the edge carries the Olympic wording, that the center and ring are clearly two different metals, that the ring sits tight with no gap and that the hands and rings are sharp rather than soft. The Royal Mint also sold it in presentation packs. A pack coin has bright, unmarked surfaces, while one from change shows light scuffs.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 2 pounds |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2008 |
| Circulation mintage | 918,000 |
| Composition | Bimetallic: cupronickel center in a nickel-brass outer ring |
| Weight | 12.0 g |
| Diameter | 28.4 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: I CALL UPON THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD |
| Designer | The Royal Mint Engraving Team |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Other 2008 £2 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 London Olympics 1908 £2 Coin | 910,000 | Small premium |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2008 Olympic handover £2 rare?
It is one of the harder circulating £2 coins to find, with 918,000 struck. That isn't rare in the sense of a few hundred pieces, but it is scarce enough that collectors pay above face value for decent examples.
What is the difference between the 2008 and 2012 Olympic handover £2 coins?
The 2008 coin shows the Olympic flag passing between two hands, reads BEIJING 2008 and LONDON 2012 and has the London logo at the bottom. The 2012 coin shows a relay baton above a flag turning into Brazil's, reading LONDON 2012 and RIO 2016.
Mintage figures: Two pound coin (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.