British Coinage in the Decimal Era
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British Coinage in the Decimal Era
Barwicker No. 127
Summer 1918
By Decimal Day. l5 February 1971, only three new coins remained to
be introduced. These were the halfpenny, penny and two pence coins.
The coins for five and ten pence, being of the same size, weight and
value respectively as the one and two shilling coins they would
eventually replace had been introduced in April 1968 and the fifty
pence coin, which replaced the 10 shilling note, had been introduced in
October 1969. It had been agreed that for a short period that old one
penny and three penny coins could continue to be used but only in
multiples of 6d/2½p. In the event these coins had almost vanished
from circulation within two weeks and they were officially withdrawn
from circulation on 3l August that year. All the new coins carried the
words "New Pence". The old sixpence coin also remained in
circulation. It had been intended to withdraw this coin quite quickly as
well but by public demand its withdrawal was postponed until June
1980.
The first major change to the new coinage happened in 1982 when the
word "New" was dropped and replaced by the word "two" or "ten" etc.
as appropriate. During this year the first new coin appeared, the 20p.
This was officially described as an "equilateral curve heptagon",
similar to but smaller than the 50p coin. There was then a series of
changes to other coins, the halfpenny coin was demonetised on 3l
December 1984, the sizes of the higher value coins were reduced, the
5p coin in 1990, the lOp coin in 1992 and the 50p coin in 1997 and the
larger versions, including any remaining one and two shilling coins
were demonetised shortly after. The £l coin was introduced in I983
and was followed by a £2 coin in 1997. By this time the only coins still
in circulation in the same form as at decimalisation were the one penny
and two pence coins and they continue to this day.
The designs of the reverses (tails) of the lower valued coins remained
constant until 2008. The lp coin featuring a Portcullis, the 2p the
Prince of Wales Feathers. the 5p a Crowned Thistle, the IOp a
Crowned Lion and the 20p a Crowned Tudor Rose. The obverse has
always been an image of the Queen although 4 different versions have
been used. Indeed following the withdrawal of the old one and two
shilling coins all UK coins in issue have borne the image of the Queen
in contrast to the 5 different images in circulation pre decimal.
Since 2008 all coins issued for general circulation have carried a
segment of the Royal Shield as the reverse design.
The higher valued coins have been treated somewhat differently and
many different reverse designs have been used. In the case of the 50p
coin there has always been a standard design, Britannia until 2008
followed by a segment of the Royal Shield but parallel to these coins
have been many to commemorate notable events. The use of these
special mintings has increased from 6 in the 20th Century to 26 in the
2lst, not including 30 more relating to the London Olympics of 2012.
The actual numbers minted for any particular event varied widely
from just 186,000 for the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of Kew
Gardens to 258 Million for the similar Anniversary of Samuel
Johnson's Dictionary. Needless to say the Kew Gardens coin is rare
and can be valuable. There is also a continuing series of designs based
on characters created by Beatrix Potter, some of which have been
minted in silver and then coloured, obviously not intended for
circulation.
Following its introduction in 1983 there has never been a standard
design for the £I coin as it changed from year to year using the Royal
Shield representing the United Kingdom one year and then symbols for
each of the constituent countries in following years in no particular and
changing order. The last three years of the "round" pound were all
showing the Royal Shield. Most of these coins had an inscription in
Latin set into the milling round the edge. In 2017 this coin was
replaced by a Bimetal 12 sided coin and to date all coins have depicted
a rose, leek, thistle and shamrock surrounded by a coronet.
The £2 coin was introduced in 1998 although the initial coins had been
minted in 1997. There had been a few £2 coins minted prior to the
general introduction. These were of "yellow" metal, in commemorative
sets and not intended for general circulation, whereas the later coins
were bimetal. Up to 2015 the standard coins carried an abstract
concentric design. which was replaced by Britannia in 2015. The £2
coin has also been used to commemorate events and there have been
no fewer than 44 variants so far with more scheduled for this year.
Those are the coins in general circulation. The Royal Mint also
produced other coins which were not intended for general circulation
but more as souvenirs.
These started with the Crown or 25p coin of which only four were
issued, in 1972, 1977. 1980 and 1981. These were in honour of the
Queen's Silver Wedding Anniversary, the 25th Anniversary of her
Accession, the 80th Birthday of the Queen Mother and the Wedding of
Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. The cost of producing these
coins exceeded their face value and their production ceased but a coin
of the same size with a face value of £5 was minted in 1990 for the
Queen Mother's 90th Birthday. This was followed by 5l other designs
with at least another 6 due to appear in the next year or so.
It is perhaps not general knowledge that the Mint has issued coins
recently of even higher values. Although still Legal Tender they are
intended more for collectors and would be almost impossible to use in
a shop. The first of these to appear was the £20 coin in 2013. There
have now been 8 different designs issued. Then coins with a face value
of both £50 and £l00 were issued in 2015. That was the only minting
of the £50 coin but that for f#163;100 has appeared now with three different
reverse designs. Each of these higher value coins is minted in .999 fine
silver.
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| The New Coins |
Annual sets of definitive coins are available from the Royal Mint as
are the special commemorative coins issued from time to time. In
addition to all the coins mentioned above it is also possible to purchase
Sovereigns and Half Sovereigns in Gold and some sets of coins minted
in Silver rather than their usual metal. They also come in a variety of
finishes: to be of any real value coins need to be of at least
uncirculated condition. All can be ordered on line at
www.royalmint.com. Finally this year the Mint has decided to issue a
series of l0p coins, each coin bearing on its reverse one of the twenty six
letters of the alphabet, in the expectation that people will attempt to
collect either a full set or the letters spelling their name or something
else meaningful. The coins have also a representation of their
individual letter. The coin with I shows an Ice Cream cornet and Y
shows a Yeoman Warder.
PETER STYLES
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