1994 UK Coin £2 Silver Proof Bank Of England

Buy the 1994 Bank of England Silver Proof Two Pound Coin

Issued to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of this important British establishment, this sterling silver  coin is a collector's piece that is issued in a presentation box with a certificate.

• Struck in sterling silver, 0.925 fineness
• Limited Mintage 27,957

View all 1994 Bank of England £2 Coins

This two pound coin was released to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Bank of England. It is appropriate that this momentous occasion was commemorated on one of Britain's most popular coins linking this great institution with the nation's currency.

The reverse engraving features the familiar figure of Britannia. One of the first decisions of the Court of Directors in 1694 was the choice of Britannia "looking on a bank of mony" as the Bank's corporate seal. Britannia had graced halfpennies and farthings for more than twenty years and has been depicted on the coinage of every monarch from Charles II to the present.

At the time of decimalisation, Britannia was chosen to appear on the reverse of the new fifty pence coin, and is the namesake of the United Kingdom's most popular one ounce bullion coin, the Britannia where Philip Nathan's Britannia stands proudly on the reverse of the highest denomination coins in the realm.

So potent a symbol is she and so inextricably linked with the coinage, that she has appeared on every printed banknote issued by the Bank of England. It is entirely fitting, therefore, that in the same guise as she appeared on the Bank's corporate seal she should hold sway on the reverse of the this commemorative £2 coin struck for the Bank's tercentenary.

The motto of William Paterson, "sic vos non vobis", "thus we labour but not for ourselves" is inscribed around the edge of the coin.

The obverse of this coin bears Raphael Maklouf's acclaimed third definitive UK coin portrait of the Queen.

The engraving on the reverse was created by Leslie Durbin. It reflects the period in which the Bank was founded with the Bank's original corporate seal, the crown and cypher of William and Mary and the words Bank of England in familiar script.