New Release: 2026 Royal Mint Annual Sets
New Release: 2026 Royal Mint Annual Sets
As a circulating coin, the Commonwealth Games - Wales £2 Coin is worth its face value of £2. However, collectors may pay more for high-grade examples or if the coin is scarce. Check our rarity score to see how sought-after this coin is.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games – Wales £2 coin is one of those modern UK circulation pieces that feels like it should be common, right up until you actually go hunting for it. It was issued for the XVII Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in 2002, and it's part of a four-coin set celebrating the UK's home nations with near-identical designs that swap out the flag cameo.
In collector terms, the Wales version is famous for two things:
If your £2 coin is dated 2002 but has the standard “Technology” reverse (the older abstract/mechanical design), you've got a different 2002 £2. The Commonwealth Games designs are very easy to spot once you know to look for the athlete and the flag cameo.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were a big deal for the UK: a major international multi-sport event hosted in Manchester, and—crucially for coin collectors, a perfect excuse to create a highly "collectable-by-design" set. The Royal Mint issued four near-matching £2 coins representing England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The clever part is psychological: once people learn there are four, many of them stop being "casual" collectors and become "set hunters". Set hunting is basically the coin-collector equivalent of Pokémon. One becomes four. Four becomes a folder. A folder becomes "I should probably start grading these". The hobby escalates quickly!
The reverse shows a dynamic athlete breaking through at the finish (often described as "runner breaking ribbon"), paired with a sweeping banner that echoes sporting lanes and motion. Behind the athlete is a circular cameo featuring the flag of Wales, which is what separates this coin from the England/Scotland/Northern Ireland versions.
Conceptually, it's a nice bit of design efficiency: one core artwork that can be "re-skinned" into four collectable variants. The banner/lanes motif also plays well with multiple sports rather than locking the coin to a single event (like a football or a specific stadium).
The reverse design is credited to Matthew Bonaccorsi.
The obverse carries the definitive portrait of Queen Elizabeth II used on circulating coinage at the time, designed by Ian Rank-Broadley.
For collectors, obverses matter because portrait changes can help you date coins at a glance—and because certain errors/varieties show up on the obverse (mis-strikes, die clashes, odd lettering, and so on). For this specific coin, the obverse is typically the "stable" part; the reverse is where the identity lives.
The edge inscription is widely recorded as: SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP, MANCHESTER 2002. In practice, collectors use edge lettering as a fast authenticity/diagnostic check—especially when photos online are blurry or when a coin has heavy circulation wear on the faces.
Modern UK £2 coins are engineered objects as much as they are miniature sculptures: bimetallic construction, tight tolerances, and a standard size that makes them easy to validate (by machines and by collectors).
| Spec | Commonwealth Games – Wales £2 (2002) |
|---|---|
| Composition | Bimetallic (outer ring + inner centre) |
| Weight | 12.0 g (often listed around 12 g / ~12.08 g depending on cataloguing)} |
| Diameter | 28.4 mm (catalogued around 28–28.4 mm) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Mint | The Royal Mint (Llantrisant) |
Collector tip: because the weight and diameter are so standardized, a cheap digital scale and calipers are surprisingly useful tools for screening suspicious coins, especially if you buy online.
The headline number, because collectors love numbers, is the circulating mintage: 588,500.
The Royal Mint has also highlighted this coin as one of the rarest UK £2 coins, placing it second on its scarcity list. It’s especially notable because it's rare without being ancient. You don’t need Roman archaeology to enjoy this one; you just need patience, good change habits, and maybe a mild UK coin collecting obsession.
In the four-coin Commonwealth Games series, Wales is described as the second rarest of the set, with Northern Ireland being rarer still. That matters because set-completers often chase the scarcest coin last, and “the last one” tends to attract a premium.
A mintage figure is the start of the story, not the end. Coins get lost, exported, hoarded, damaged, and sometimes just vanish into collections and never return to circulation. That means two coins with the same mintage can feel very different in real-world hunting.
The Wales Commonwealth Games £2 has the added collector gravity of being part of a mini-set, which increases how many of them are pulled from change jars and tucked away.
This coin was released into circulation as a circulating commemorative hence in theory, you can still find it in everyday change. In practice, you’re more likely to encounter it through:
Collector reality check: because the mintage is low, a quick hunt for this coin can easily turn into a long-term side quest. That's not failure, that's the hobby.
With bimetallic £2 coins, condition is often about contrast: you want the outer ring and inner core to look clean, the design to have crisp detail, and the fields (flat areas) to avoid deep bag marks or scratches.
Grading can make sense if you have a truly high-end example (near-gem uncirculated, exceptional surfaces, strong strike), or if you’re building a registry-style collection. NGC catalogues the type and lists the designers and specs for the 2002 Wales reverse.
For most collectors, though, the Wales £2 is a “smart raw coin” in a capsule or album: scarce, iconic, and satisfying to own without needing plastic.
Coin values move with condition, demand, and timing. Instead of pretending there’s one “correct” number, think in layers: base scarcity (low mintage) + set demand (people want all four) + condition premium (uncirculated always commands more) + selling format (dealer retail vs. auction vs. private sale).
Those are snapshots from specific sellers and moments in time, not a universal price. Your coin’s real-world value depends heavily on condition and on how you sell it. The same design can sell for dramatically different amounts when it's certified at a high grade versus heavily circulated.
Modern UK coin collecting has a weird ecosystem of exaggerated listings and "RARE!!" headlines. The Wales Commonwealth Games £2 is legitimately scarce, so it gets dragged into hype culture fairly often.
The standard edge inscription is documented as "SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP, MANCHESTER 2002". If a listing claims a different edge inscription makes it ultra-rare, treat that as "prove it with clear photos and credible attribution", not as fact.
Best practice: if someone claims "one-of-a-kind error", ask for (or look for) evidence that a grading service or recognized specialist has attributed it. Otherwise, it’s probably just a coin having a rough day in circulation.
For long-term keeping, use inert materials: coin capsules, album pages designed for £2 coins, or non-PVC flips. Avoid adhesives, tape, or soft plastics that can leach chemicals and haze the surfaces over time.
Also: don’t clean it. Cleaning is the fastest way to turn “scarce collectable” into “scarce coin with suspicious hairlines.”
The Wales 2002 Commonwealth Games £2 works nicely in multiple collecting styles:
The “mini-set” approach is especially popular because it’s finite, visually coherent, and has a built-in climax: finding the scarcest ones to finish the set.
Yes—this is a standard £2 circulating commemorative coin type.
Because the circulating mintage is low at 588,500, and it’s heavily collected as part of the four-coin set.
Look for the Welsh flag cameo on the reverse behind the athlete, and check the edge inscription wording.
Reverse: Matthew Bonaccorsi. Obverse portrait: Ian Rank-Broadley.
