| One pound (United Kingdom) | |
|---|---|
| Value: | 1.0 pound sterling |
| Mass: | 9.5 g |
| Diameter: | 22.5 mm |
| Thickness: | 3.15 mm |
| Edge: | Milled with incuse lettering or decoration |
| Composition: | 70% Cu, 24.5% Zn, and 5.5% Ni |
| Years of minting: | 1983–present |
| Catalog number: | – |
| Obverse | |
 |
|
| Design: | Queen Elizabeth II |
| Designer: | Ian Rank-Broadley |
| Design date: | 1998 |
| Reverse | |
 |
|
| Design: | Royal Shield |
| Designer: | Matthew Dent |
| Design date: | 2008 |
The circulating British one pound (£1) coin is minted from a nickel-brass alloy of approximately 70% copper, 24.5% zinc, and 5.5% nickel. The coin weighs 9.50 grams (0.34 oz) and has a diameter of 22.50 millimetres (0.89 in.).
The coin was introduced on 21 April 1983 to replace the Bank of England one pound note, which ceased to be issued at the end of 1984 and was removed from circulation (though still redeemable at the Bank's offices) on 11 March 1988. One pound notes are still issued in Jersey and Guernsey, and by the Royal Bank of Scotland, but the pound coin is much more widely used. It was given the nickname "round pound" on introduction, although this term did not remain in common use.
As of December 2005 there were an estimated 1,452 million £1 coins in circulation.1
Contents |
Designs
The £1 coin has the standard obverse designs used on all contemporary British coins, namely the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Arnold Machin in 1983 and 1984, by Raphael Maklouf between 1985 and 1997, and by Ian Rank-Broadley since 1998. All have had the inscription ELIZABETH II D G REG F D date.
Uniquely amongst modern British coinage, the £1 coin has a mint mark: a small crosslet found on the milled edge that represents Llantrisant in South Wales, where the Royal Mint has been based since 1968.2
An interesting feature of this denomination is that the design of the reverse of the coin changed each year between 1983 and 2008 to show, in turn, an emblem representing the UK, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England, together with an appropriate edge inscription. The inscription ONE POUND appears at the bottom of all reverse designs before April 2008.
In August 2005 the Royal Mint launched a competition to find new reverse designs for all circulating coins apart from the £2 coin.3 The winner, announced in April 2008, was Matthew Dent, whose designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from summer 2008.4 The designs for the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins depict sections of the Royal Shield that form the whole shield when placed together. The new £1 coin design features the shield in its entirety, representing the UK as a whole. The inscription ONE POUND appears on either side of the emblem.
The reverse designs are as follows.
 |
1983: Ornamental royal arms.
|
 |
1984: Thistle sprig in a coronet, representing Scotland.
|
 |
1985. Leek in a coronet, representing Wales.
|
 |
1986: Flax in a coronet, representing Northern Ireland.
|
 |
1987: Oak tree in a coronet, representing England.
|
 |
1988: Crown over shield.
|
| 1989: As 1984. 1990: As 1985. 1991: As 1986. 1992: As 1987. 1993: As 1983. |
|
 |
1994: Lion Rampant within a double tressure flory counter-flory, representing Scotland.
|
 |
1995: Welsh dragon.
|
 |
1996: Celtic cross and pimpernel, representing Northern Ireland.
|
 |
1997: Three lions passant guardant, representing England.
|
| 1998: As 1983. Issued in collectors' sets only, not for circulation. 1999: As 1994. Issued in collectors' sets only, not for circulation. 2000: As 1995. 2001: As 1996. 2002: As 1997. 2003: As 1983. |
|
 |
2004: Forth Bridge (Scotland).
|
 |
2005: Menai Suspension Bridge (Wales).
|
 |
2006: MacNeill's Egyptian Arch at Newry (Belfast–Dublin railway line, Northern Ireland).
|
 |
2007: Millennium Bridge, Newcastle/Gateshead (England).
|
| 2008: As 1983. | |
|
2008–: The shield from the Royal Coat of Arms.
|
All years except 1998 and 1999 have been issued into circulation, although the number issued has varied enormously – 1983 and 1984 in particular had large mintages to facilitate the changeover from paper notes, while some years such as 1986 and 1988 are only rarely seen (although 1988 is more noticeable as it has a unique reverse). Production since 1997 has been reduced, thanks to the introduction of the circulating two pound coin.
Mintages
- 1983 ~ 443,053,510
- 1984 ~ 146,256,501
- 1985 ~ 228,430,749
- 1986 ~ 10,409,501
- 1987 ~ 39,298,502
- 1988 ~ 7,118,825
- 1989 ~ 70,580,501
- 1990 ~ 97,269,302
- 1991 ~ 38,443,575
- 1992 ~ 36,320,487
- 1993 ~ 114,744,500
- 1994 ~ 29,752,525
- 1995 ~ 34,503,501
- 1996 ~ 89,886,000
- 1997 ~ 57,117,450
- 1998-1999 ~ none
- 2000 ~ 109,496,500
- 2001 ~ 58,093,731
- 2002 ~ 77,818,000
- 2003 ~ 61,596,500
- 2004 ~ 39,162,000
- 2005 ~ 68,138,000
Counterfeiting
It is a common misconception that all fake pound coins are made of lead.citation needed In fact, the vast majority are made of brass, and most lead copies are easy to spot and are quickly removed from circulation. A Royal Mint survey in 2006 revealed that 1.7% of £1 coins in circulation are counterfeit – nearly twice as many as earlier estimates.67 According to figures obtained by the BBC, as of 2008, 2% of £1 coins are fake.8 One common method of detecting counterfeits (if the sound of the coin on a table or the colour of the metal doesn't indicate something suspicious) is to check whether the reverse matches the edge inscription for the alleged year – it is extremely common for counterfeiters to get this wrong. Also, the writing on the edge may be in the wrong font and look very poor (see image), and the coins often generally look much less sharp and defined, lacking intricate details.
The Swazi lilangeni is minted from the same planchets as the British pound coin, and hence has the same chemical constitution, diameter, and mass.9 The lilangeni is worth significantly less: the 2008 exchange rate is around 14 lilangenis to the pound. This has enabled it to be used for vending machine fraud, and payment fraud in situations where the receiver is unlikely to closely examine the coins.10
Further reading
In an April 1993 The New Yorker article 'Real Britannia', Julian Barnes describes the meetings to choose the 1994–1997 reverse designs11. This is reprinted in his book Letters from London as 'Britannia's New Bra Size'.
See also
References
- ^ Estimated Coins in Circulation, Royal Mint
- ^ "History of the Royal Mint". Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
- ^ "Royal Mint seeks new coin designs", BBC News, 17 August 2005
- ^ "Royal Mint unveils new UK coins", 2 April 2008
- ^ The Inspiration and Designers: Eric Sewell, Royal Mint
- ^ Counterfeit Coin Newsletter, Issue No. 8 July 2007
- ^ Counterfeit Coin Newsletter, Issue No. 1 December 2003
- ^ Ben Ando (2008-09-22). "Number of fake £1 coins 'doubles'", BBC News.
- ^ "Swaziland’s Coinage". Numismatic Dimensions.
- ^ "SOUND AS A POUND?", The Guardian (2002-11-12).
- ^ "Letter From London: Real Britannia". The New Yorker (paid registration required for the full article).
- Coincraft's Standard Catalogue English & UK Coins 1066 to Date, Richard Lobel, Coincraft. ISBN 0-9526228-8-2
External links
|
|||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 8 January 2009, at 15:33.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by PediaView.com. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with PediaView.com.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "British one pound coin".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.