Found a Slave Trade £2 coin in your change and want to know how much it’s worth?
According to the most recent sold values on eBay in 2022, the 2007 Slave Trade £2 coin sells for £3.10 in circulated condition without postage and packaging.
In the rest of this article, we’ll explore the mintage and design of the Slave Trade £2 coin – known formally as the Abolition of the Slave Trade £2 coin – to see whether it is rare and what the chances are of this coin showing up in your change.
Is The Slave Trade £2 Rare?
The Slave Trade £2 coin had a mintage of 8,445,000, which is quite a high amount for a £2 coin. Because of this, the coin is not considered to be very rare at all.
Despite this relatively large mintage, the coin still has a respectable average selling price on eBay, which is quite common to see for commemorative £2 coins.
For example, if we take a look at the Brunel Portrait £2 which has a very similar mintage (just under 8 million) we see that it sells for around £3. Another example would be the Charles Dickens £2, which has an average selling value of £2.69 and a mintage of 8,190,000.
Other Versions
As with most commemorative coin designs, the Royal Mint also produced the Slave Trade £2 in other uncirculated versions for collectors which are summarised in the table below.
| Version | Mintage |
| Brilliant Uncirculated In Pack | 8,688 |
| Silver Proof | 7,095 |
| Silver Proof Piedfort | 3,990 |
| Gold Proof | 1,000 |
The Design Of The 2007 Slave Trade £2 Coin
The reverse of the Slave Trade £2 features a design that was to celebrate the end of the slave trade in the British Empire.
It features the date 1807 with the 0 shown as a broken chain link nought to signify the broken link the chains of oppression and the end of slave trading. The image is surrounded by the inscription AN ACT FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE as well as the date 2007.
Around the milled edge are the words AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER. The inscription was taken from British potter Josiah Wedgwood’s famous medallion that featured the saying inscribed on a banner ribbon at the feet of a slave in chains.
The medallion had been created as part of an anti-slavery campaign by Wedgwood in 1787.
Slave Trade £2 Error/Misprint
While this coin sparked rumours that the lettering was worth more if printed upside-down, this is not an error and is instead a result of the process used to manufacture the coin.
The edge is struck before the obverse or reverse images are, so some appear to be right-side-up and others appear to be upside-down, but neither is considered to be an error or a mistake.
If you notice somebody trying to sell their coin with such an ‘error’ for a high price simply ignore them.
What Does The Coin Represent?
The coin was released to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The 1807 Act marked a turning point in human rights legislation in the UK when it made it illegal to trade slaves inside the British Empire. However, it would take another Act to make it illegal to keep slaves that had already been traded.
In 1807, the slave trade was abolished in the British Empire. The Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade received Total Assent to become law throughout the entire empire.
It came after a very long Parliamentary campaign by an alliance of Evangelical Anglicans and Quakers which was led by William Wilberforce. The effort eventually gained the support of the Prime Minister, Lord Grenville.
The Act was a major step forward but did not abolish slavery itself at the time. It was a stepping stone to acknowledging the damaging effects of slavery. It did however lead to the complete abolition of slavery across the British Empire a little more than a quarter of a century later, in 1833.