August 31, 2021

1988 $2 Coin - Lamination Peel

1988 $2 Coin - Lamination Peel

 

This is a 1988 $2 lamination peel, otherwise known as a partial planchet peel. As you can see from the image above, the surface layer of the coin has peeled over the roman numerals 'II' and is also separated at the effigy section of the Queen’s hair. This lamination error has caused a crack to continue up through the crown. It continues in the opposite direction to crack over Her Majesty's cheek and out her mouth; across through to the lettering on the rim of the coin.

Restating some of the information we included in our 10 cent split planchet article, this error typically occurs during the manufacturing process when the alloy of a blank is poorly mixed and or contains impurities. When the metal for the blank is rolled, the impurities in the alloy prevent it from bonding correctly, which subsequently create errors similar to this one

On the reverse of the coin, the small initials HH are evident just under the Elder’s chest across the rib area. The initials are those of the chief engraver; Horst Hahne, of the Royal Australian Mint. His initials only appear on 1988 and 1989 $2 coins. The RAM produced approximately 192.5 million of these coins over the two year period.

No initials have appeared on the reverse of the circulating Aboriginal Elder $2 since 1989. It has been suggested that this was actioned because of the cultural insensitivity to the Indigenous Aboriginal people of Australia, as Horst's initials appear to be almost a branding or tattoo on the body of the depicted elder. Other suggestions have also been made that this was done because of copyright action made against the RAM. Yet neither have been verified by any authority on the matter.

Release: 1988
Mintage: 160'900'000

RESOURCES

Royal Australian Mint 27/07/2021: Two Dollars https://www.ramint.gov.au/two-dollars

Coin Community 09/29/2007: HH Initials $2 Coin https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19862

Last Updated: 31/08/2021

1 comment

  • Freddy Duggan on February 09, 2023

    Hi. That’s is very interesting, I have one to share with you. I have a $2 Dollar coin 1995 & the lamination of the coin is cracked ( Peel split) do you know who can tell me a little bit about this coin. The coin is in very good condition and had split from the Date 1995 & Part of the Australia name could you tell me What do you think.

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