Two Pounds 2015 Magna Carta (Fifth Portrait), Coin from United Kingdom - detailed information

The bi-metallic £2 coin is the largest circulating coin denomination of the Pound Sterling. It was introduced in 1998 (earlier two pound coins were made of Nickel brass, were intended as commemorative, and did not circulate much). Being bi-metallic means that the coin comprises two separate components of differing alloys - a Nickel-Brass outer ring with inner circle of CuproNickel.

The Royal Mint maintains a "definitive" style of the £2 issued annually, as well as a large variety of one-year circulating commemorative types and some Non-Circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) £2 coins for collectors. Between 1997 and 2015, the definitive type was the Technology type £2, which was then changed to the Britannia type £2.

The one-year type coins celebrate important anniversaries or people, as well as iconic aspects of British culture and history.

This circulating commemorative £2 coin marks the 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Drawn up over 800 years ago, the Magna Carta was a catalyst for a journey towards freedom for the ordinary man, in the United Kingdom and across the world. Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for "the Great Charter of the Liberties") is a charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown.

The official effigy of Queen Elizabeth II changed during the year. The coins first struck for the annual brilliant uncirculated and proof mint sets had her Fourth Portrait by Ian Rank-Broadley; these coins were struck for circulation later in the year and have the Fifth Portrait by Jody Clark.

£2 coins issued in 2015 have now been in circulation for ten years.