2009 Charles Darwin £2 Coin
The 2009 Charles Darwin £2 is a circulating £2 with 3.9 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2009
- Circulation mintage
- 3,903,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Suzie Zamit
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 2009 Charles Darwin £2 worth?
3.9 million were made, so the 2009 Charles Darwin £2 is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
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 2009 Charles Darwin £2 rare?
- No. 3.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2009 Charles Darwin £2 coins were made?
- 3,903,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2009 Charles Darwin £2?
- The design is credited to Suzie Zamit.
- What is the 2009 Charles Darwin £2 made of?
- Bimetallic: cupronickel center in a nickel-brass outer ring. It weighs 12.0 g and measures 28.4 mm.
- Is the 2009 Charles Darwin £2 still legal tender?
- Yes. Every two-metal £2 coin, commemoratives included, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2009 Charles Darwin £2 was made
Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury on 12 February 1809, the same day as Abraham Lincoln. As a young man he sailed on HMS Beagle on a voyage of almost five years, gathering the observations that would shape his thinking for the rest of his life. Decades later, in 1859, he published On the Origin of Species, setting out his theory of evolution by natural selection. The book caused a storm and changed biology for good.
The year 2009 brought a double anniversary: 200 years since his birth and 150 since the book appeared. The Royal Mint marked both on one coin, putting the dates of his birth year and the anniversary year on the reverse and the book on the edge. Suzie Zamit's design was struck in large numbers, 3,903,000 for circulation, so it turns up in change often. It came out in the same year as the Burns £2, giving 2009 two very different commemoratives: a poet's words on one and a scientist's face on the other. Both proved popular, partly because they were easy to spot among the plain definitive £2 coins of the time.
How to recognize it
Darwin appears in profile on the left, facing right, eye to eye with a chimpanzee on the right that faces him. The pairing points straight at his ideas on shared ancestry. The inscription 1809 . DARWIN . 2009 runs above, with small dots separating the dates from the name. TWO POUNDS sits below. The edge reads ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 1859. If you see a bearded man facing a chimp, you have this coin, since no other UK £2 uses that image. Wear shows first on Darwin's beard and brow and on the chimpanzee's face, so those are the areas to compare. The designer was Suzie Zamit.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2009 Charles Darwin £2 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2009 Charles Darwin £2 ranks 21st lowest of 42 circulating £2 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2014 Trinity House £2 (3.71 million); the next more common is the 2003 DNA Double Helix £2 (4.3 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2005 End of World War II (VE Day 60) £2 with 10.2 million, about 2.6 times as many. The scarcest is the 1989 Claim of Right £2 with 381,400, 10 times fewer than this one.
It was released in 2009 alongside 1 other circulating £2 design: the Robert Burns (3.25 million). The 2009 Charles Darwin £2 was the most plentiful of the year.
What to check on your 2009 Charles Darwin £2
- Read the edge. It should say ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 1859. 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.
Nearly four million were struck, so the Darwin £2 is a face value coin when worn. It's easy to find, but it is one of the more striking designs of the period and plenty of people keep one for that reason alone. Coins with full detail in the beard and the chimpanzee's face look far better than worn ones, where those areas flatten first. The design was included in the Royal Mint's 2009 collector sets. Pack examples are noticeably brighter than anything from circulation, with unbroken detail in the hair. Fakes are not a common worry for a coin this plentiful.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 2 pounds |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2009 |
| Circulation mintage | 3,903,000 |
| Composition | Bimetallic: cupronickel center in a nickel-brass outer ring |
| Weight | 12.0 g |
| Diameter | 28.4 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 1859 |
| Designer | Suzie Zamit |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Other 2009 £2 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 Robert Burns £2 Coin | 3,253,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Why is there a monkey on the Darwin £2?
It's actually a chimpanzee, which is an ape rather than a monkey. Placing Darwin face to face with it nods to his view that humans and apes share common ancestry, an idea he developed in his later writing after On the Origin of Species.
Who designed the Charles Darwin £2 coin?
Suzie Zamit designed the reverse. Her design shows Darwin in profile facing a chimpanzee, framed by 1809 . DARWIN . 2009 and TWO POUNDS. The edge carries the title of his best known book with its publication year, 1859.
Mintage figures: Two pound coin (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.