New pound coins in 2017

[andyg]

A new £1 coin, designed to be the "most secure in the world", is set to be introduced in 2017.

It comes amid concerns about the 30-year old coin's vulnerability to counterfeiting, with an estimated 45 million forgeries in circulation.

The new coin is based on the design of the old 3d (three penny) piece, or threepenny bit, a twelve-sided coin in circulation between 1937 and 1971.

A competition will be held to decide the image on one side of the coin.

The Royal Mint, which believes 3% of existing £1 coins are fake, said the move would increase "public confidence" in the UK's currency and reduce costs for banks and other businesses.

The announcement comes as Chancellor George Osborne prepares to deliver his fifth Budget on Wednesday.

'Iconic design'
The current £1 coin was introduced in 1983 as part of the phasing out of the one pound note, which was ultimately withdrawn five years later.

Of the 1.5 billion coins estimated to be in circulation, as many as two million counterfeit ones are removed every year.

The government said the existing coin had been in existence longer than most others and that its technology was no longer suitable to combat increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting techniques.

The proposed new coin will be roughly the same size as the current one and will be based on the once popular three pence piece that disappeared after decimalisation in the early 1970s.

As well as its unique shape, the new coin will be made in two colours and will incorporate state-of-the-art technology to ensure it can be quickly and automatically authenticated at all points.

While the Queen's head will be on the obverse side of the coin, as it is on all legal tender in the UK, the Treasury has said there will be a public competition to decide the image on the other other side.

"With advances in technology making high value coins like the £1 ever more vulnerable to counterfeiters, it's vital that we keep several paces ahead of the criminals to maintain the integrity of our currency," they said.

Adam Lawrence, the chief executive of the Royal Mint, said the process could change the way coins were made in the future.

"The current £1 coin design is now more than 30 years old and it has become increasingly vulnerable to counterfeiting over time.

"It is our aim to identify and produce a pioneering new coin which helps to reduce the opportunities for counterfeiting, helping to boost public confidence in the UK's currency in the process."

The Bank of England, which earlier this year announced that banknotes would be made out of plastic rather than cotton from 2016, said the move would "enhance the security and integrity of the currency"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26632863

[<k>]

Excellent idea. A bimetallic pound - give it some laser marks too, for extra security.

The report says: "The proposed new coin will be roughly the same size as the current one".  I just hope it's lighter, as the current ones are unnecessarily heavy.Well, they're not that difficult to make. Just knocked one up in my garden shed, and it looks more realistic than theirs.

[<k>]

So much for decimalisation when they're putting Roman numerals on the edge. The people who were comfortable with that stuff departed our shores around 1600 years ago.

Anyway, you'd think they'd have put 2017 as the date on the coin. Unscrupulous sellers will be using that image come 2017, claiming the coin is worth even more than the hugely rare Kew Gardens pagoda 50 pence.

And another thing, it may not be QEII on the coin in 2017, especially if Putin invades us during World War 3.

[andyg]

I was wondering what the lifetime is going to be for these - will they have space for MMXVIII...?

I was also wondering why the counterfeiters have moved onto £2 coins.... !
http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=15161.msg167824#msg167824

[<k>]

I was wondering why the counterfeiters have moved onto £2 coins.... !

So they can't be that difficult to make. Maybe if they added a polygonal inner rim, to make it more difficult for them.

[andyg]

Given that we had steel 5p and 10p in little over 18 months - why do we need wait 3 years for these? Is it so the costs can be blamed on whoever is the next government ?

[<k>]

At the end of 1984, it was decided we needed a smaller 5p, 10p and 50p. When did we get them? 1990, 1992 and 1997 respectively.

[malj1]

The MailOnline added their quids-worth which is essentially the same as above, but they do say:

Its replacement will be roughly the same size with security features including bi-metallic construction, the 12-sided design and the use of iSIS – integrated Secure Identification System. This means an additive is built into coins which can be authenticated by high-speed scanners.

The technology will allow vending machines to spot fakes much more easily.

"why do we need wait 3 years for these?"

They do say its to allow time for the parking meters and slot machines to be updated to take the new coins.

[Bimat]

So UK is finally following the Euro pattern...

Aditya

[chrisild]

Yeah, they have had bimetallic £2 coins for years ... then they learned that their euro neighbors have bi-mets as well, and stopped using them.   Well, maybe not "stopped", but this explains why the £2 is not that common in circulation.

As for the new £1 coin design, I like the idea with the 12 edges. Whether the year on the edge is in Roman numerals or not, does not matter much, but changing the inscription every year may (along with other features) make it more difficult to counterfeit the coin.

It also makes sense to have "2014" on the obverse design that the Royal Mint presented. The year on a design should match the head of state at the time the design is published. What counts is the bimetallic look and the dodecagonal shape ...

Christian

[<k>]

>  the Treasury has said there will be a public competition to decide the image on the other other side.

I missed that bit. It will probably end up being heraldic, to fit in with the other designs. But then we lose the "full jigsaw" - doesn't that render Dent's jigsaw pieces obsolete? 

[chrisild]

Yes, and no. You would still have the jigsaw puzzle consisting of the six penny/pence denominations. Now if/when the 1p and 2p are phased out, that would be a different story ...

By the way, the BBC story has been updated and now shows a second image of the obverse, with a ring of pearls. Hmm.

Christian

[<k>]

This one? The Royal Mint refers to beads, rather than pearls.

As for a reverse design, expect the Daily Mail to start a campaign for the restoration of that Greco-Roman whore, Britannia. Its hordes of reactionary readers would probably respond enthusiastically.

My first thought for a design was Stonehenge, but given that it's a small bimetallic coin (22mm in diameter, I believe), the reverse design would be rather small, unless it was allowed to spread over pill and ring. But I'd say Stonehenge still wouldn't fit, so I have no decent suggestions.

The current status of pound coin designs is that Dent's full jigsaw design appears yearly (correct me if I'm wrong), while designs for each nation also circulate concurrently - e.g. the daffodil and leek for Wales, etc.

[Figleaf]

It looks like there is a text in micro letters on the inside slope of the edge. I also note that the Beeb says it will be made "in two colours", rather than two metals, but that may just be journalistic ignorance. More details on the competition, such as can turners participate would be welcome.

If consistency is the science of the stupid, the Daily Mail and its ilk will holler for Britannia on the new coin.

Peter

[andyg]

The plethora of pound coin designs is a gift to the forger, it makes counterfeits much harder to spot.

Three versions per year (as we have at the moment) is a bit much!