Posts by Change Checker
Poll: What is your favourite round £1 Coin design? – Scotland
As part of the Great One Pound Coin Race, we want to find out Britain’s favourite £1 coin.
Last week we asked you to vote for your favourite UK £1 coin design – over 40% of Change Checkers voted for the 2016 Last round pound.
This week we want to know your favourite Scottish £1 coin design.
Let us know by voting in our poll below:
More information about the Scotland £1 coin designs
The Thistle £1 was issued in 1984 and 1989
The first reverse design series of £1 coins took floral emblems as its theme to represent the United Kingdom and its four constituent countries. They were designed by Leslie Durbin – one of the most highly-regarded silversmiths of the 20th Century. The Thistle is used on this coin to represent Scotland.
The Scotland Lion Rampant £1 was issued in 1994
This coin features a Lion Rampant which is used to represent Scotland. The term ‘rampant’ refers to the position of the lion standing upright with forelegs raised and claws unsheathed, and this symbol was first used to represent the Scottish kingdom by King Alexander II in the 13th century.
Scotland: Forth Railway Bridge
The Scotland Forth Railway Bridge £1 was issued in 2004
This coin features the Forth Railway Bridge to represent Scotland. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge to the East of Scotland which connects the capital city Edinburgh with Fife. Construction began in 1883 and it was the first major structure in Britain to be constructed of steel, using ten times as much as the Eiffel Tower.
The Edinburgh City £1 was issued in 2011
The fourth series of £1 coins used the capital cities of the four constituent countries as the basis of the reverse design. Designed by Stuart Devlin, Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Queen, this coin depicts the circular Coat of Arms of Edinburgh as the principal focus to represent Scotland.
Scotland: Thistle and Bluebell
The Thistle and Bluebell £1 was issued in 2014
The fifth series of £1 coin designs uses pairs of floral emblems designed by Timothy Noad to represent the United Kingdom and its four constituent countries. This coin features a thistle alongside a bluebell to represent Scotland.
Next week- Part 3: What’s your favourite Northern Irish £1 coin design?
This could be your last chance to secure Britain’s last ’round pound’.
If you want to get your hands on the last ‘round pound’ they are available here protectively encapsulated and certified as superior Brilliant Uncirculated quality.
The £1 Scarcity Index reveals which £1 coins are the rarest
Can’t wait – click here to reveal the UK’s “scarcest” £1 coin
With the Great One Pound Coin Race nearing the finishing line, collectors across the UK are desperate to complete their Round Pound collections.
Historically, change collectors have relied upon mintage figures for their indication as to which coins in circulation are the rarest. But the story is not that simple.
650 million coins lost from circulation
The £1 coin has been in circulation since 1983. During that time a total of 2.2 billion £1 have been struck for circulation. But they are not all still in use.
There are 1.5 billion coins in circulation but probably fewer than 800,000 of the rarest design
The last available figures for coins in circulation, published by The Royal Mint for 2014, suggest that 1,553,000,000 £1 coins are in circulation.
In other words, 650 million of the coins struck no longer circulate, presumably withdrawn over the years as worn or damaged.
The majority of those 650 million coins are from the early issuing years, meaning that although some of those years may have high mintages, the actual number of coins available to collect from your change is far lower. In fact our research suggests that only a little more than half of the early years’ £1 coins are still in circulation. Far fewer if you’re trying to secure one in good collectable condition.
Scarcity breeds scarcity
But even that is only part of the story. Of course, scarcity breads scarcity.
Even before the launch of the Great One Pound Coin Race, we noticed a rise in collector interest for £1 coins on the back of the introduction of the new 12-sided £1 coin. And the demand is always disproportionately high for the more difficult coins. The result is a continued ratcheting up in demand for the rarer coins.
The Change Checker £1 Scarcity Index
That’s why Change Checker launched the £1 Scarcity Index. Rather just relying on mintage figures, we have combined them with the two critical points above – the actual numbers of coins in circulation and real collector demand, measured by Change Checker swap data – to create a unique Scarcity Index for the £1 Coin.
Scaled from 100 to 1, the scores represent the relative scarcity of each coin, with 100 being the most scarce.
So will I ever find the Edinburgh City £1 Coin in my change?
With a scarcity rating of 100, the Edinburgh City £1 Coin is the rarest Round £1 in circulation
With the Edinburgh City £1 Coin topping the Scarcity Index, will you ever actually find one in your change?
Well certainly it won’t be easy – but it’s definitely possible. Our calculations suggest there are probably somewhere between 600,000 – 800,000 Edinburgh City coins still in circulation but as we near the withdrawal date this number is decreasing rapidly. In other words, it is of similar rarity to the recently issued 2015 First World War Navy £2 but far less scarce than the rarest current circulation coin – Kew Gardens 50p, which had a mintage of just 210,000.
On average, it means that you will have to examine roughly 3,000 mixed £1 coins to find the Edinburgh City £1 Coin. But with over 6,000 Change Collectors already listing the Edinburgh City £1 Coin in their collection, it is certainly an achievable goal.
Bank of England sticks with £5 note despite animal fat concerns
Last year it came to light that the new plastic fivers are actually made using tallow, a substance produced from animal fat.
The news sparked an online petition calling for the Bank of England to stop using tallow in the production of the notes, which has since attracted more than 130,000 signatures. You can read more about this in our previous blog.
The new £5 notes were released into circulation in September and caused a collecting frenzy! The new plastic £10 notes are due to enter circulation in September.
However, yesterday the Bank of England confirmed “that it would be appropriate to keep the £5 polymer note in circulation and to issue the £10 polymer note as planned, in September.”
The Bank said it undertook a careful review of options, including destroying current notes in circulation, reprinting the notes without the tallow additive and delaying the planned introduction of polymer £10 notes but concluded that taking action would be too costly and could put the efficiency of the counterfeit measures at risk.
So do you think the Bank of England’s decision to stick with the plastic notes despite the animal fat concerns is a good or bad idea?
Let us know in our poll: