General info
Now on the production line in Wales – the 12-sided £1 coin
More details have emerged about the 12-sided £1 coin which is due to enter circulation in March 2017.
The new £1 coins have gone into production today – a whole year before they are due to be released.
New £1 Coin will enter circulation during 2017#pound2016 #kprs #tweetuk #bizitalk #uksopro https://t.co/9zY8XumeyN pic.twitter.com/SVZeklqtl7
— Crossbrook Insurance (@crossbrookuk) March 31, 2016
The new 12-sided £1 coin will be made from 2 different metals and has been billed to become the most secure circulating coin in the world.
“With ground-breaking technology, developed in Wales, the new coin will help secure our economy and get rid of counterfeits.” George Osborne on the 2017 £1 coin.
The release of this new coin will come as a relief to many as there are 45 million pounds worth of fake pound coins in circulation as three pound coins in every 100 have been found to be fake.
The new design by 16 year old student David Pearce from Walsall, will feature four emblems that represent the UK – a rose, a thistle, a leek and a shamrock emerging from a royal coronet.
We’re really looking forward to finding them in our change when they come out, and remember, you can collect them with www.changechecker.org
Own a truly vintage British coin – the George VI Thrup’nny Bit
If you would like to add one to your collection for just £3.50, they’re available now! Click here
Peter Rabbit 50ps are in circulation – here’s where to find them…
The new Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit 50p
News emerged over the weekend that the brand new Peter Rabbit 50p coin has been released into circulation. So if you’re keen to find one – now’s your chance.
Getting one of the first coins put into circulation can be quite an achievement, especially with a coin as popular as this one.
They have initially been restricted to a few key locations in the north of England, but will find their way into circulation across the UK later in the year.
If you want to try and get one now, the coins have been put in the tills of the following attractions and National Trust properties:
- The World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness-on-Windemere
- The Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead
- Wray Castle in the Lake District
- Hill Top in Cumbria
Don’t forget to post a picture to our Facebook or Twitter pages if you find one!
If you do find a Peter Rabbit 50p…
Why not put it in a special Coin Collecting Pack made just for this series of coins? Click here for details…
How rare is my £5 coin?
You may have noticed we’ve been talking about £5 coins a lot over the past few weeks and lots of collectors have been asking how rare their £5 coins are.
The £5 coin was first issued in 1990 as a replacement for the commemorative crown with a face value of 25p. They are usually reserved to commemorate significant British anniversaries and are a favourite among collectors as they are not intended for general circulation.
Using current Royal Mint figures we have put together three graphs where you can see just how rare your commemorative crown is, from the 1972 Silver Wedding Crown to the Brilliant Uncirculated Coronation £5 in 2013.
The differences in the mintage figures really are remarkable. Take a look below and see just how rare your £5 coin actually is.
The first crown ever to be issued was the 1972 Silver Wedding Coin and incidentally this is the rarest 25p UK coin from the Royal Mint with a mintage of 7,452,100. This 1972 crown was the first British coin to have a face value of 25 pence; previous crowns had been Five Shillings face value. Also, for the first time in modern times, the obverse did not incorporate a date, but merely bore the Queen’s name and titles surrounding her portrait.
The £5 coin with the lowest mintage in the history of UK £5 coins, is the circulated 2008 Prince Charles 60th Birthday £5 coin. Just 14,088 circulated quality coins were struck by the Royal Mint in 2008 to mark the 60th birthday of Prince Charles. The coins inscription ICH DIEN means ‘I serve’ and is taken from the Badge of the Prince of Wales.
* Individual Royal Mint BU Pack sales figures only
Out of the Brilliant Uncirculated £5 coins sold in individual The Royal Mint Packs, the 2014 Queen Anne £5 is the rarest. This coin has a mintage of just 12,181 and was struck to mark the 300th anniversary since the death of Queen Anne.The design bears an elegant portrait of Queen Anne, styled by Mark Richards FRBS as an eighteenth-century miniature.
How many of these £5 coins do you have in your collection? Do you own one of the rarest £5 coins? Let us know via Facebook, Twitter or leave a comment below!
The UK’s VERY FIRST Decimal Crown