Pound Coin Series

[UK Decimal +]

Stretching the subject, as we frequently do, here's a few comments about my feelings on some of the £1 designs that have been issued.

1983 Royal Arms - a perfect choice for the first of a new issue.

1986 etc. Flax plant - I used to think that it was a rose bush growing in a crown until I read the description somewhere.

1988 Royal Shield - one of my favourite designs for any coin, which is surprisingly difficult to find in circulation ('only' 7,118,825 issued).

1995 etc. Welsh Dragon - again one of my favourites.

2004 Forth Bridge and 2005 Menai Bridge - as a railway enthusiast I like these two, both being a fair representation of the real thing.

2006 Egyptian Arch - meaningless to me as an Englishman, but perhaps more appreciated in Northern Ireland, and the official description 'Egyptian' hardly makes me think of NI anyway.

2007 Millennium Bridge - this might be a classic one day, but not for me.

2008 Royal Arms - a pleasing note finishing with how it all began in 1983.

2008 Shield of the Royal Arms - I like it (which is more than I can say for the bits of a pound for the lower denominations).

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

Taken this morning from the Royal Mint website.

http://www.royalmint.com/corporate/policies/CounterfeitPoundCoins.aspx (general comments on £1 forgeries).

http://www.royalmint.com/web/counterfeitguide/counterfeitcoinguide.pdf then continue downwards to page 2 and read the note in the top left hand corner "The reverse of the £1 coins is changed every year ... ".   Then continue down to the bottom of that page and you will see that, by omission, THE 2008 £1 ROYAL ARMS COINS ARE ALL FORGERIES although they issued 3,910,000 of them according to http://www.royalmint.com/corporate/MintageFigures/circulating_coins.aspx !   I told them about this a couple of weeks ago, but ... .

It appears that the Royal Mint are more interested in being a shop than getting the job done properly.

Bill.

[tonyclayton]

The interesting thing about the Royal Mint figures is that the 2008 50p with Britannia reverse is going to be really hard to find with a mintage of just 700,000