Coin Designs and Specifications
Admire the beautiful craftsmanship of our circulating coins whilst uncovering the interesting procedures that our coins go through to get the all-important official Royal Proclamation. Keep scrolling to view all our former and current circulating UK coins.
Each crown issue is authorised by Royal Proclamation in accordance with the requirements laid down by the Coinage Act 1971.
The consensus of opinion from the consultation favoured a bi-colour coin, because it would be easily distinguishable from the other coins in circulation.
After more than 30 years in the nation’s pockets, the familiar round £1 coin was replaced with an all new, 12-sided £1 coin in 2017.
While this design may have been traditional, the shape of the new 50p coin, an equilateral curve heptagon, was revolutionary.
The introduction of a 20p piece would substantially reduce the weight of coins in the system by decreasing the number of 10p coins in use.
With the introduction of decimal coinage in 1971 the pre-decimal two shilling coin was redenominated as a 10p piece.
With the introduction of the decimal coinage in 1971 the pre-decimal one shilling coin was redenominated as a 5p coin
The United Kingdom 2p coin was introduced on 15 February 1971 with the creation of a new decimal currency system.
The first copper-plated steel 1p coins were struck in 1992. The reason for this change was the increase in the price of metals on the world markets.
