Falkland Islands KM#137 2 Pounds 2004 XF—Map—Wildlife—30 Years of Falklands Coins

A bimetallic 2-pound coin struck to mark 30 years of Falkland Islands coinage — from one of the most isolated inhabited places on Earth, which Brian from World Money Store personally traveled ten days to reach. The reverse is a miniature atlas of the territory, ringed by the animals that define it. The obverse carries the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of Elizabeth II that defined a generation of Commonwealth coinage. This is a coin that rewards a second look.

Ten days to get here

Getting to the Falkland Islands is not a casual trip. Brian from World Money Store needed to take ten days to travel here and back in 2025 when the Falklands issued their new beautiful polymer banknote series with King Charles. The route: fly to Santiago, Chile — itself a full day from the U.S. — overnight then onward to Stanley on a flight that operates once a week, with stops in Punta Arenas and Ushuaia. On the ground, there is one bank branch (no ATM) and one ATM (in a gas station) in the entire (magical) country. 

Obverse

• Colors: silver-toned copper-nickel center; gold-toned nickel brass ring
• Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by engraver Ian Rank-Broadley — the definitive effigy used across Commonwealth coinage from 1998 onward
• Inscriptions: QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND / 2004

Reverse

• Colors: silver-toned center; gold-toned outer ring
• Map of the Falkland Islands with a radiant sun above — the two main islands, East and West Falkland, rendered in geographic detail
• Animals depicted around the map, representing the extraordinary wildlife of the islands: the Rockhopper Penguin, one of the world’s most distinctive penguins with its yellow-black crest and red eyes, found in vast colonies on the Falklands’ rocky coastlines; the Black-browed Albatross, which nests on the islands in the largest colony of any albatross species on the planet; and other native fauna that make the Falklands one of the Southern Hemisphere’s premier wildlife destinations
• Engraver: Matthew Bonaccorsi
• Inscriptions: FALKLAND ISLANDS / TWO POUNDS

Edge

• Reeded with incuse inscription: · 30 YEARS OF FALKLAND ISLANDS COINAGE ·

Other Characteristics

• Catalog numbers: KM#137; Numista N#10195
• Composition: Bimetallic — copper-nickel center in nickel brass ring
• Weight: 12 g
• Diameter: 28.4 mm
• Thickness: 2.5 mm
• Shape: Round
• Technique: Milled
• Orientation: Medal alignment ↑↑
• Issuer: Falkland Islands (British Overseas Territory)
• Issuing authority: Government of the Falkland Islands
• Queen: Elizabeth II (1952–2022)
• Type: Standard circulation — Commemorative: 30th anniversary of Falkland Islands coinage
• Year: 2004
• Value: 2 Pounds (2 FKP = USD 2.71)
• Currency: Falkland Islands pound (decimalized, 1971–date)
• Official language: English

About the Falkland Islands

• Origin of name: Named after Falkland Sound, the channel between the two main islands, which was itself named after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland, a naval official who funded an early expedition in 1690
• Capital: Stanley (pop. ~2,500 — the southernmost capital city in the world)
  • Origin of name: Named after Lord Stanley, British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the 1840s
• Population: ~3,800 (2021 census) — fewer people than many small towns
• Area: 12,173 km² (4,700 mi²) — similar to Connecticut or Northern Ireland
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$70,000+ — driven by fishing licenses and tourism
• Main exports: Squid and fish (fishing licenses are the primary revenue source), wool, tourism
• Borders: No land borders — surrounded by the South Atlantic Ocean; nearest mainland is Argentina (~500 km west)
• Official/spoken language: English
• Ethnicities: Falkland Islanders (“Kelpers”) of predominantly British descent; small communities of Saint Helenians and Chileans
• Memberships: British Overseas Territory; United Kingdom responsible for defense and foreign affairs

Argentina's Dangerous National Myth

Argentina claims the islands as Islas Malvinas — but the facts don’t support the claim. Argentina never owned the Falklands. Its national myth is based on two brief periods when a handful of Spaniards/Argentines were present on the islands:

1. The British and French built forts in the 1760s, of which the French fort passed into Spanish hands from 1767 to 1811
2. Louis Vernet, a German immigrant to Argentina, founded a settlement of 80–100 people that lasted around seven years, 1826—1833, of whom roughly two dozen were Argentine gauchos. (who are, incidentally, portrayed on a 50 peso banknote). 

Britain established the capital Stanley in 1845, whereas all of southernmost Argentina didn't even have a single town in until 1869, when Ushuaia was founded. Stanley grew to 2,000 people by 1900.

In the 2013 referendum, 99.8% of islanders voted to remain a British Overseas Territory. Its citizens are full British citizens. Three votes were cast against.

Falkland Islands Unfiltered

The Falklands War lasted 74 days in 1982. Argentina invaded; Britain sent a task force 8,000 miles. 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers died over islands with fewer than 2,000 residents at the time.

The islands have more penguins than people — by a factor of roughly 350 to 1. An estimated 1.2 million penguins of five species breed there.

Unexploded Argentine landmines from 1982 fenced off large sections of coastline for decades. Those beaches became accidental penguin sanctuaries, undisturbed by humans for 40 years. Most mines were finally cleared by 2020.

The Falklands economy runs largely on squid. Fishing licenses sold to foreign fleets — mostly Asian — generate more revenue than anything else. The islands have no income tax.

In the 2013 sovereignty referendum, 1,513 votes were cast in favor of remaining British. Three voted against. Argentina called the result illegitimate.

A coin born from a war no one expected

The Falkland Islands didn’t have its own decimal coinage until 1974 — three years after decimalization, and eight years before the war that would make the islands famous worldwide. This 2004 coin marks exactly 30 years of that coinage, with the anniversary inscription hidden in plain sight on the edge: · 30 YEARS OF FALKLAND ISLANDS COINAGE ·. Most people who handle it never notice.

The animals on the reverse are not decoration

The Falklands are one of the last places on Earth where wildlife exists at genuinely pre-industrial scale. Black-browed Albatrosses nest here in colonies of hundreds of thousands — the largest concentration of any albatross species on the planet. Rockhopper Penguins navigate vertical cliff faces to reach their nesting grounds, leaping between rocks with a confidence that seems improbable for a bird. The reverse of this coin is, in miniature, a field guide to one of the Southern Hemisphere’s great wildlife refuges.

Own this document of the South Atlantic

This is a coin from a territory that most people know only from a war, held by a queen who reigned for 70 years, struck to commemorate a currency that outlasted an invasion. The bimetallic construction — warm gold ring, cool silver center — gives it a presence in hand that photographs don’t fully capture. XF condition: the detail is sharp, the surfaces clean.

A coin from the edge of the world, sourced from the edge of the world.