Badly Stamped $2 Coin

That coin is a cast counterfeit. 2003 is a well known year for counterfeit $2 coins. You can tell by the spaghetti like hair of the queen and the troll like appearance of the gentleman on the reverse.

For me, the giveaway that it's a counterfeit is the shape of the stars. The crims obviously weren't artists, and didn't know how to draw a seven-pointed star properly.


It's theoretically worth time in prison if you get caught keeping it, trying to sell it, or trying to spend it.

Under Section 9 of the Crimes (Currency) Act 1981, now that you are aware that it's counterfeit, you're supposed to hand it over to the Police.

Personally, I'd put it in a watertight, airtight plastic bag with a big sign saying "Warning! Counterfeit Coin! Do Not Spend!". Then I'd dig a hole in the backyard, bury it with some other stuff I didn't want, and place a plaque on the spot saying "Time Capsule - Do Not Open Until 2060". Hopefully, by then we'll have reformed the currency and it would be legal to own such a coin, just as today it's legal to own contemporary counterfeit shillings and florins from before 1966.

I'm sure the archaeologists will be delighted to find an example of an early 21st century counterfeit coin.

Definitely a case of a counterfeit coin. Really ugly.