Proposed UK Coin Specification Changes of the 1980s

[Galapagos]

UK coins as they were in 1987.

In late 1985 the Royal Mint revealed that it was considering changes to the coinage.

It was generally considered too heavy at that time.


In 1987 it published a pamphlet outlining the options it was considering.

All the images I have posted come from that pamphlet.

However, I have edited them to save space, for instance by moving the coins closer.

[Galapagos]

UK Coins Options 1(a), 2(a), 3(a).

The Royal Mint illustrated four different options that they were considering.

These all involved changing the specifications of some - not all - of the circulation coins.


Options 1, 2 and 3 all involved changing the specification of the 50p coin.

It would change from a large seven-sided coin to a smaller, round but thick "half-pound". 


In all the options, changes were only to be made to the 5p, 10p and 50p coins.

The £1 coin, 20p coin, and 1p and 2p coins were to be left as they were.

However, option 2 did involve getting rid of the 2p coin altogether.


I did not favour the idea of a "half-pound".

I like the heptagonal format of our 50p coin and I don't like "thick" coins.


The UK pound coin is very thick and too heavy, I find.

I did, however, favour reducing the 50p in size.


The seven-sided 50c coin that Cyprus would later issue is a nice size.

The one that shows the abduction of Europa.

[Galapagos]

Option 1.

In option 1, the 10p coin was to become smaller than the 20p coin.

The 5p coin would become smaller than the 10p coin.


The 10p coin illustrated is slighter larger than the 5p of today.

The 5p illustrated is somewhat smaller than the modern one.


I was all in favour of the 10p becoming smaller than the 20p.

However, the 5p in this illustration seems far too small.

Option 2.

Option 2 used the same reduced 10p coin as in option 1.

However, the 5p coin was to be changed from cupro-nickel to bronze.


It was also to become a similar size to the existing 2p coin.

To avoid confusion, this meant getting rid of the existing 2p coin altogether.

I did not favour this option myself, as I found the size of this 5p to be too large.


I also considered the 2p coin to be a useful denomination.

It is way too large, though, for its worth.

However, the Royal Mint did not propose to alter the bronze coins.

Option 3.

Option 3 involved changing the specifications of the 5p coin.

It would be minted in brass and be 12-sided.


It would resemble a smaller, thinner, version of the predecimal 3 pence coin.

The 10p coin would be the same as in options 1 and 2.


This option appealed to me most out of all the options.

Apart from the round 50p, that is, which I did not like.


The 10p is smaller than the 20p, as logically it should be.

The format of this 5p was quite attractive: polygonal and in brass.

Also, the proposed 5p was not too big or small this time.

[Galapagos]

Option 4.

Option 4 involved keeping the large seven-sided 50p as it was in 1987.

It also involved reducing the size of the 10p and 5p coins.


The 10p and 5p coins are a very similar size to those of nowadays.

In effect, those are what we got.


I felt this option meant that 10p coin would still be too large for its worth.

I was happy with the size of the 5p coin as illustrated here.


I also wanted a smaller seven-sided 50p.

We did eventually get one, but not quite as small as I would have liked.


I would also have liked the over large 2p coin to reduced in size

I also find the weight and thickness of the pound coin to be too much.


Our UK coins are still significantly bigger and heavier than those on the Continent.

A 10p coin should not be similar in size to a 2 euro coin (which is worth much more).


The Royal Mint commissioned a survey of public opinion on the four options.

Only a minority of those questioned were in favour of change.

Of those who expressed a preference, the results were:

Option 1 - 7% in favour
]Option 2 - 26%
]Option 3 - 23%
Option 4 - 44%

My own preference was for option 3.

Option 4 was most popular,  as it was closest to the existing coinage.

In fact, option 4 was very close to what we did get in the 1990s,.

However, the 50p coin was reduced in size as well.


The word "TRIAL" appears on some of the 5p and 10p coins and the round 50p coin.

Just in case you wondered what the word was.

Unfortunately, the pamphlet does not give the size and weight of these trial coins.


Finally, I have been using the word "coin" rather loosely here.

I should have perhaps said pattern or trial.

However, the pieces were being considered as possible coinage.

So I just used the word "coin".

See also: Proposed UK Coin Specification Changes, 1994.

[chrisild]

Very interesting! I did not know about those plans or considerations. Guess I would have preferred Option 2, with the "giant" 2p coin being phased out.

Agreed, the 10p piece is fairly big, even in the "shrunk" version. But it is fairly light. If you compare it to a €2 coin, yes, "our twoer" is a little bigger - interestingly it's the 50 ct coin which, while being a little thicker than a 10p coin, has pretty much the same diameter. The British £1 is thick indeed, but I suppose that such a relatively small coin would not have been well accepted if it had also been thin. Oddly enough, the £2 coin is thinner but laaarge ...

Oh, and that Cyprus 0.50 coin was first issued in 1991.

Christian

[Bimat]

Option 2 used the same reduced 10p coin as in option 1. However, the 5p coin was to be changed from cupro-nickel to bronze. It was also to become a similar size to the existing 2p coin. However, to avoid confusion, this meant getting rid of the existing 2p coin altogether.

It would make sense if they really do so,since many countries have stopped issuing small denomination coins.Many times they aren't accepted.Finland has some legal provision to round-off 1 and 2 Eurocent price to nearest price if I am not wrong.

[chrisild]

Same in the Netherlands - businesses may round cash totals, so the 1 and 2 cent coins are not really needed. Problem is making the "first step", I think: If the smallest denomination currently used in a country is, say, a 0.05 coin, leaving that out and make 0.10 the smallest piece is easier. Now in the UK you do have a 0.01 coin (they even had a 0.005 coin in the first decimal years), so rounding would be a new concept ...

What helped in NL was that before the euro, the smallest coin was a 5 cent piece, so the idea of rounding was something that most people were used to anyway. In DE however people seem to cherish the "pennies".

Christian

[Galapagos]

Very interesting! I did not know about those plans or considerations. Guess I would have preferred Option 2, with the "giant" 2p coin being phased out.

Agreed, the 10p piece is fairly big, even in the "shrunk" version. But it is fairly light. If you compare it to a €2 coin, yes, "our twoer" is a little bigger - interestingly it's the 50 ct coin which, while being a little thicker than a 10p coin, has pretty much the same diameter. The British £1 is thick indeed, but I suppose that such a relatively small coin would not have been well accepted if it had also been thin. Oddly enough, the £2 coin is thinner but laaarge ...

Oh, and that Cyprus 0.50 coin was first issued in 1991.

Christian

For the record, our current 10p is 24.5mm in diameter and 6.5g in weight, as compared to 24.25mm and 7.8g for the 50 eurocents coin.

The UK pound coin could probably be half as thick as it is and still be thicker than any other existing UK coin apart from the two pound coin.

A 2p coin (7.12g) is twice as heavy as the 1p coin (3.56), so I see no gain in phasing it out - you'd just end up with twice as many coins but the same overall weight.

[Galapagos]

It would make sense if they really do so,since many countries have stopped issuing small denomination coins.Many times they aren't accepted.Finland has some legal provision to round-off 1 and 2 Eurocent price to nearest price if I am not wrong.

I think we should just get rid of our 1p and 2p coins altogether and price everything in multiples of 5p. I can buy a tiny stick of fudge for 15p, but that's the lowest price I know of here - which shows just how worthless the 1p and 2p coins now are. The idea of pricing goods in denominations for which coins no longer exist, as in NZ, where goods are priced in cents but the lowest coin is 10c, strikes me as surreal.

[chrisild]

Surreal? Not really.

In Germany people tend to think we do not round either; after all, we still have the small "copper" pieces. But do we have "1/10 cent" coins, to get exact change at all those gas stations that have prices such as "1.234" or "1.119"? No, we round ...

As for doing away with the 2p coin in the UK, you are right, that would not have resulted in any savings (as long as the 1p is still around). I just find the piece to be bulky, especially considering its value.

Christian

[translateltd]

I think we should just get rid of our 1p and 2p coins altogether and price everything in multiples of 5p. I can buy a tiny stick of fudge for 15p, but that's the lowest price I know of here - which shows just how worthless the 1p and 2p coins now are. The idea of pricing goods in denominations for which coins no longer exist, as in NZ, where goods are priced in cents but the lowest coin is 10c, strikes me as surreal.

A colleague in Denmark once mentioned that they still had a 10 ore stamp when the lowest coin denomination was 25 ore, so of course he went into the Post Office and asked for a single 10 ore stamp.  The way he tells the story, they threw him out ...

[chrisild]

Would be even tougher now - the smallest denomination they have in Denmark is the 50 øre piece, worth about 7ct (€) or 6p (£). Of course it is not really necessary to throw an obnoxious customer out. Just ask him or her to pay the exact amount, høhø.

Christian

[tonyclayton]

I personally like the mix we have now, although a thinner
bimetallic pound would reduce the number of forgeries that
have proliferated in recent years.  The French did this with their 10 franc coin.

While the 2p could be eliminated quite happily, I find that I get more 2p coins than 1p coins in change (I know, as I have a coin sorting machine into which my loose change gets thrown most evenings). I do not think the Royal Mint would be too happy having just redsigned most coins to have a connected theme

[Galapagos]

I get the impression, Tony, that the Royal Mint had looked at the chunky French 10 franc piece of the 1970s and been partly influenced by its specifications. I can't see the Royal Mint downsizing the 2p at this late stage. It'll probably just wait to demonetise it, by 2020 at the latest, I should think.

[tonyclayton]

I get the impression, Tony, that the Royal Mint had looked at the chunky French 10 franc piece of the 1970s and been partly influenced by its specifications. I can't see the Royal Mint downsizing the 2p at this late stage. It'll probably just wait to demonetise it, by 2020 at the latest, I should think.

I hope I shall still be around to see if this prediction becomes true!