Great Britain 2022 Silver Britannia 2 Pounds With Doubled Die Obverse Certified by NGC

Due to today’s advanced methods of die manufacturing and quality control, it is unlikely to come across a coin that exhibits significant die doubling. In fact, in some cases, it is impossible due to the method employed such as single press hubbing. Therefore, I was quite surprised to come across an extensive die doubling at the end of last year. Shockingly, it was not an old coin but rather a current issue Great Britain 2022 Silver Britannia 2 Pounds that demonstrated extensive doubling to the obverse die!

Great Britain 2022 Silver Britannia 2 Pounds Click images to enlarge.

The Silver Britannia is the British equivalent of the US Silver Eagle. It is minted as a bullion coin in Mint State. The obverse of the coin, which exhibits the doubling, portrays Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by the legend and denomination. It is evident that the second hubbing of the die was not properly aligned. The misalignment was caused by a slight tilting and rotation of the hub that resulted in doubling to about 50% of the die (most of the left side).

Close-ups of die doubling.

The reverse of the coin features Britannia, standing and holding a trident and shield of the Union flag, surrounded by lettering and the date. This side was struck from a normal die that exhibits no die doubling.

Although only a few of these doubled die error coins have been submitted to date, there could be a substantial number yet to be discovered. The average die life is around 20,000 coins, so there could be many more of these Britannia error coins waiting to be graded. Exactly how many coins were struck from this particular die is unknown, so the true rarity of this variety will only become apparent over time based on the number of examples discovered.