2013 London Underground Roundel £2 Coin
The 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 is a circulating £2 with 1.56 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2013
- Circulation mintage
- 1,560,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Designer
- Edwina Ellis
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 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 worth?
1.56 million were made, so the 2013 London Underground Roundel £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 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 rare?
- No. 1.56 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 coins were made?
- 1,560,000 were struck for circulation.
- Who designed the 2013 London Underground Roundel £2?
- The design is credited to Edwina Ellis.
- What is the 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 made of?
- Bimetallic: cupronickel center in a nickel-brass outer ring. It weighs 12.0 g and measures 28.4 mm.
- Is the 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 still legal tender?
- Yes. Every two-metal £2 coin, commemoratives included, is legal tender in the UK.
Why the 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 was made
The circle crossed by a bar is one of the best known signs in Britain. It has marked London Underground stations since the early twentieth century and was refined over the years into the clean roundel used today. It appears on platforms, maps, posters and buses across the city. Versions of it have been copied by transport systems around the world. Designers often hold it up as an example of public signage done well: simple, readable at speed and instantly linked with one place.
In 2013 the Royal Mint marked 150 years of the Underground with a pair of £2 coins. One shows a train. This one, designed by Edwina Ellis, shows the roundel. Ellis had already designed the bridges series of £1 coins, so she was no stranger to turning familiar structures into coin designs. With 1,560,000 struck for circulation, the roundel coin was made in slightly smaller numbers than the train coin, though both sit well below the multi-million mintages of many other £2 commemoratives. The edge borrows the warning every Tube passenger has heard on the platform.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows the Underground roundel, the circle with a bar across its middle, with 1863 above and 2013 below. It's a clean, almost graphic design with lots of open space, which makes it easy to recognize at a glance even on a worn coin. The edge reads MIND THE GAP. That lettered edge is the easy way to tell it from the train coin of the same year, whose edge carries a line pattern instead. Because the design is so plain, any scratches or knocks on the flat areas stand out, so condition is easy to judge by eye. Edwina Ellis designed it.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2013 London Underground Roundel £2 by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 ranks 14th lowest of 42 circulating £2 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2015 Magna Carta £2 (1.5 million); the next more common is the 2016 Great Fire of London £2 (1.63 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2005 End of World War II (VE Day 60) £2 with 10.2 million, about 6.5 times as many. The scarcest is the 1989 Claim of Right £2 with 381,400, 4.1 times fewer than this one.
It shared 2013 with 2 other circulating £2 designs: the London Underground Train (1.69 million) and the Guinea (2.99 million). The 2013 London Underground Roundel £2 was the scarcest of the year.
What to check on your 2013 London Underground Roundel £2
- Read the edge. It should say MIND THE GAP. 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 1,560,000 made for circulation, the roundel coin is scarcer than most commemorative £2 coins but not in the very low group. Worn examples are face value or a small premium. Because the design is so plain, wear shows mostly on the bar and around the circle. A coin with sharp edges on the bar and dates looks far better. Check that the edge lettering reads MIND THE GAP and is well formed. Collectors usually want both 2013 Underground coins together. Packaged examples from the Royal Mint have bright, unmarked fields.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 2 pounds |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2013 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,560,000 |
| Composition | Bimetallic: cupronickel center in a nickel-brass outer ring |
| Weight | 12.0 g |
| Diameter | 28.4 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: MIND THE GAP |
| Designer | Edwina Ellis |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Other 2013 £2 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 London Underground Train £2 Coin | 1,690,000 | Face value |
| 2013 Guinea £2 Coin | 2,990,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
What does the edge of the Underground roundel £2 say?
It reads MIND THE GAP, the warning to passengers about the space between the train and the platform. The lettered edge helps tell this coin from the train £2 of 2013, whose edge has a line pattern instead of words.
Is the 2013 roundel £2 worth keeping?
It's worth setting aside if you find one. With 1,560,000 struck it is less common than most £2 coins in change, though not one of the scarcest. A sharp example makes a good pair with the 2013 train coin.
Mintage figures: Two pound coin (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.