The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories is denominated in pennies and pounds sterling (symbol "£", commercial GBP), and ranges in value from one penny sterling to two pounds. Since decimalisation, on 15 February 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 (new) pence. Before decimalisation, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound.

British coins are minted by the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales. The Royal Mint also commissions the coins' designs.

In addition to the circulating coinage, the UK also mints commemorative decimal coins (crowns) in the denomination of five pounds. Ceremonial Maundy money and bullion coinage of gold sovereigns, half sovereigns, and gold and silver Britannia coins are also produced. Some territories outside the United Kingdom, which use the pound sterling, produce their own coinage, with the same denominations and specifications as the UK coinage but with local designs.

Currently circulating coinage

The current decimal coins consist of:

• one penny and two pence in copper-plated steel
• five pence and ten pence in nickel-plated steel
• equilateral curve heptagonal twenty pence and fifty pence in cupronickel
• bimetallic one pound and two pounds.

All circulating coins have an effigy of one of two monarchs on the obverse; various national, regional and commemorative designs on the reverse; and the denomination in numbers or words.

Elizabeth II

The obverse carries an abbreviated Latin inscription whose full form, ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX, translates to "Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith". The denomination is usually on the reverse.

Charles III

The obverse carries an abbreviated, anglicised Latin inscription whose full form, CHARLES III DEI GRATIA REX FIDEI DEFENSOR, translates to "Charles III, by the grace of God, King and Defender of the Faith". The denomination may be on either side.^[1]

Denomination	Obverse	Reverse	Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Edge	Introduced
One penny	Queen Elizabeth II	Crowned portcullis with chains (1971–2008) Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present)	20.3 mm	1.52 mm	3.56 g	Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin)	Smooth	1971
				1.65 mm		Copper-plated steel		1992
Two pence		Plume of ostrich feathers within a coronet (1971–2008) Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present)	25.9 mm	1.85 mm	7.12 g	Bronze		1971
				2.03 mm		Copper-plated steel		1992
Five pence[a]	Queen Elizabeth II	Crowned thistle (1968–2008) Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present)	18 mm	1.7 mm	3.25 g	Cupronickel (3:1)	Milled	1990
				1.89 mm		Nickel-plated steel		2012
Ten pence[a]		Crowned lion (1968–2008) Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present)	24.5 mm	1.85 mm	6.5 g	Cupronickel (3:1)		1992
				2.05 mm		Nickel-plated steel		2012
Twenty pence		Crowned Tudor Rose	21.4 mm	1.7 mm	5 g	Cupronickel (5:1)	Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon	1982
		Segment of the Royal Arms						2008
Fifty pence[a]		Britannia and lion	27.3 mm	1.78 mm	8 g	Cupronickel (3:1)	Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon	1997
		Various commemorative designs						1998
		Segment of the Royal Arms						2008
	King Charles III	1953 Queen's coronation commemoration						December 2022[2]
One pound	Queen Elizabeth II	Rose, leek, thistle, and shamrock encircled by a coronet	23.03–23.43 mm	2.8 mm	8.75 g	Inner: Nickel-plated alloy Outer: Nickel-brass	Alternately milled and plain (12-sided)	28 March 2017[3]
Two pounds[b]		Abstract concentric design representing technological development	28.4 mm	2.5 mm	12 g	Inner: Cupronickel Outer: Nickel-brass	Milled with variable inscription and/or decoration	1997 (issued 1998)
		Various commemorative designs						1999
		Britannia						2015

Production and distribution

All genuine UK coins are produced by the Royal Mint. The same coinage is used across the United Kingdom: unlike banknotes, local issues of coins are not produced for different parts of the UK. The pound coin until 2016 was produced in regional designs, but these circulate equally in all parts of the UK (see UK designs, below).

Every year, newly minted coins are checked for size, weight, and composition at a Trial of the Pyx. Essentially the same procedure has been used since the 13th century. Assaying is now done by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths on behalf of HM Treasury.

The 1p and 2p coins from 1971 are the oldest standard-issue coins still in circulation. Pre-decimal crowns are the oldest coins in general that are still legal tender, although they are in practice never encountered in general circulation.^[4]

Coins from the British dependencies and territories that use sterling as their currency are sometimes found in change in other jurisdictions. Strictly, they are not legal tender in the United Kingdom; however, since they have the same specifications as UK coins, they are sometimes tolerated in commerce, and can readily be used in vending machines.

UK-issued coins are, on the other hand, generally fully accepted and freely mixed in other British dependencies and territories that use the pound.

An extensive coinage redesign was commissioned by the Royal Mint in 2005, and new designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from summer 2008. Except for the £1 coin, the pre-2008 coins remain legal tender and are expected to stay in circulation for the foreseeable future.

The estimated volume in circulation as at March 2016 is:^[5]

Denomination	Number of pieces (millions)	Face value (£m)
Two pounds	479	957.036
One pound	1,671	1,671.328
Fifty pence	1,053	526.153
Twenty-five pence	81	20
Twenty pence	3,004	600.828
Ten pence	1,713	171.312
Five pence	4,075	203.764
Two pence	6,714	134.273
One penny	11,430	114.299
Total	30,139	4,643.658

History of pre-decimal coinage

Because of trade links with Charlemagne's Frankish Empire, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms copied the Frankish currency system of 12 deniers ("d", pennies) to the sou (shilling) and 240 deniers or 20 sous to the libra ("£", pound), the origin of the name of the current British currency. It referred to the literal weight of 240 penny coins, which at 30 grains each, weighed 1 tower pound of sterling (0.925 fine) silver. At this point and for centuries, pennies were the only coins struck; shillings and pounds were only units of account.^[6]

The penny before 1500

The English silver penny first appeared in the 8th century CE in adoption of Western Europe's Carolingian monetary system wherein 12 pence made a shilling and 20 shillings made a pound. The weight of the English penny was fixed at 22+1⁄2 troy grains (about 1.46 grams) by Offa of Mercia, an 8th-century contemporary of Charlemagne; 240 pennies weighed 5,400 grains or a tower pound (different from the troy pound of 5,760 grains). The silver penny was the only coin minted for 500 years, from c. 780 to 1280.

From the time of Charlemagne until the 12th century, the silver currency of England was made from the highest purity silver available. But there were disadvantages to minting currency of fine silver, notably the level of wear it suffered, and the ease with which coins could be "clipped", or trimmed. In 1158 a new standard for English coinage was established by Henry II with the "Tealby Penny" – the sterling silver standard of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. This was a harder-wearing alloy, yet it was still a rather high grade of silver. It went some way towards discouraging the practice of "clipping", though this practice was further discouraged and largely eliminated with the introduction of the milled edge seen on coins today.

The weight of a silver penny stayed constant at above 22 grains until 1344; afterwards its weight was reduced to 18 grains in 1351, to 15 grains in 1412, to 12 grains in 1464, and to 101⁄2 grains in 1527.

The history of the Royal Mint stretches back to AD 886.^[7] For many centuries production was in London, initially at the Tower of London, and then at premises nearby in Tower Hill in what is today known as Royal Mint Court. In the 1970s production was transferred to Llantrisant in South Wales.^[8] Historically Scotland and England had separate coinage; the last Scottish coins were struck in 1709 shortly after union with England.^[9]

The penny after 1500

During the reign of Henry VIII, the silver content was gradually debased, reaching a low of one-third silver. However, in Edward VI's reign in 1551, this debased coinage was discontinued in favor of a return to sterling silver with the penny weighing 8 grains. The first crowns and half-crowns were produced that year. From this point onwards till 1920, sterling was the rule.

Coins were originally hand-hammered – an ancient technique in which two dies are struck together with a blank coin between them. This was the traditional method of manufacturing coins in the Western world from the classical Greek era onwards, in contrast with Asia, where coins were traditionally cast. Milled (that is, machine-made) coins were produced first during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and periodically during the subsequent reigns of James I and Charles I, but there was initially opposition to mechanisation from the moneyers, who ensured that most coins continued to be produced by hammering. All British coins produced since 1662 have been milled.

By 1601 it was decreed that one troy ounce or 480 grains of sterling silver be minted into 62 pennies (i.e. each penny weighed 7.742 grains). By 1696, the currency had been seriously weakened by an increase in clipping during the Nine Years' War^[10] to the extent that it was decided to recall and replace all hammered silver coinage in circulation.^[11] The exercise came close to disaster due to fraud and mismanagement,^[12] but was saved by the personal intervention of Isaac Newton after his appointment as Warden of the Mint, a post which was intended to be a sinecure, but which he took seriously.^[11] Newton was subsequently given the post of Master of the Mint in 1699. Following the 1707 union between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, Newton used his previous experience to direct the 1707–1710 Scottish recoinage, resulting in a common currency for the new Kingdom of Great Britain. After 15 September 1709 no further silver coins were ever struck in Scotland.^[13]

As a result of a report written by Newton on 21 September 1717 to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury^[14] the bimetallic relationship between gold coins and silver coins was changed by Royal proclamation on 22 December 1717, forbidding the exchange of gold guineas for more than 21 silver shillings.^[15] Due to differing valuations in other European countries this unintentionally resulted in a silver shortage, as silver coins were used to pay for imports, while exports were paid for in gold, effectively moving Britain from the silver standard to its first gold standard, rather than the bimetallic standard implied by the proclamation.

The coinage reform of 1816 set up a weight/value ratio and physical sizes for silver coins. Each troy ounce of sterling silver was henceforth minted into 66 pence or 51⁄2 shillings.

In 1920, the silver content of all British coins was reduced from 92.5% to 50%, with some of the remainder consisting of manganese, which caused the coins to tarnish to a very dark colour after they had been in circulation for long. Silver was eliminated altogether in 1947, except for Maundy coinage, which returned to the pre-1920 92.5% silver composition.

The 1816 weight/value ratio and size system survived the debasement of silver in 1920, and the adoption of token coins of cupronickel in 1947. It even persisted after decimalisation for those coins which had equivalents and continued to be minted with their values in new pence. The UK finally abandoned it in 1992 when smaller, more convenient, "silver" coins were introduced.

History of decimal coinage

Decimalisation

Since decimalisation on 15 February 1971 the pound (symbol "£") has been divided into 100 pence. (Prior to decimalisation the pound was divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence; thus, there were 240 pence to the pound.) The pound remained as Britain's currency unit after decimalisation (unlike in many other British commonwealth countries, which dropped the pound upon decimalisation by introducing dollars or new units worth 10 shillings or 1⁄2 pound). The following coins were introduced with these reverse designs:

• Half penny, 1971–1984: A crown, symbolising the monarch.
• One penny, 1971–2007: A crowned portcullis with chains (the badge of the Houses of Parliament).
• Two pence, 1971–2007: The Prince of Wales's feathers: a plume of ostrich feathers within a coronet.
• Five pence, 1968–2007: The Badge of Scotland, a thistle royally crowned.
• Ten pence, 1968–2007: The lion of England royally crowned.
• Fifty pence, 1969–2007: Britannia and lion.

The first decimal coins – the five pence (5p) and ten pence (10p) — were introduced in 1968 in the run-up to decimalisation in order to familiarise the public with the new system. These initially circulated alongside the pre-decimal coinage and had the same size and value as the existing one shilling and two shilling coins respectively. The fifty pence (50p) coin followed in 1969, replacing the old ten shilling note. The remaining decimal coins – at the time, the half penny (1⁄2p), penny (1p) and two pence (2p) — were issued in 1971 at decimalisation. A quarter-penny coin, to be struck in aluminium, was proposed at the time decimalisation was being planned, but was never minted.

The new coins were initially marked with the wording NEW PENNY (singular) or NEW PENCE (plural). The word "new" was dropped in 1982. The symbol "p" was adopted to distinguish the new pennies from the old, which used the symbol "d" (from the Latin denarius, a coin used in the Roman Empire).

Updates 1982–1998

In the years since decimalisation, a number of changes have been made to the coinage; these new denominations were introduced with the following designs:

• Twenty pence, 1982–2007: A crowned Tudor Rose, a traditional heraldic emblem of England (with incuse design and lettering).
• One pound, 1983–2016: various designs; see One pound (British coin).
• Two pounds, 1997–2014: An abstract design of concentric circles, representing technological development from the Iron Age to the modern-day electronic age.

Additionally:

• The halfpenny was discontinued in 1984.
• The composition of the 1p and 2p was changed in 1992 from bronze to copper-plated steel without changing the design.
• The sizes of the 5p, 10p and 50p coins were reduced in 1990, 1992 and 1997, respectively, also without changing the design.

The twenty pence (20p) coin was introduced in 1982 to fill the gap between the 10p and 50p coins. The pound coin (£1) was introduced in 1983 to replace the Bank of England £1 banknote which was discontinued in 1984 (although the Scottish banks continued producing them for some time afterwards; the last of them, the Royal Bank of Scotland £1 note, is still issued in a small volume as of 2021^[ref]). The designs on the £1 coin changed annually in a largely five-year cycle, until the introduction of the new 12-sided £1 coin in 2017.

The decimal halfpenny coin was demonetised in 1984 as its value was by then too small to be useful. The pre-decimal sixpence, shilling and two shilling coins, which had continued to circulate alongside the decimal coinage with values of 2+1⁄2p, 5p and 10p respectively, were finally withdrawn in 1980, 1990 and 1993 respectively. The double florin and crown, with values of 20p and 25p respectively, have technically not been withdrawn, but in practice are never seen in general circulation.

In the 1990s, the Royal Mint reduced the sizes of the 5p, 10p, and 50p coins. As a consequence, the oldest 5p coins in circulation date from 1990, the oldest 10p coins from 1992 and the oldest 50p coins come from 1997. Since 1997, many special commemorative designs of 50p have been issued. Some of these are found fairly frequently in circulation and some are rare. They are all legal tender.

In 1992 the composition of the 1p and 2p coins was changed from bronze to copper-plated steel. Due to their high copper content (97%), the intrinsic value of pre-1992 1p and 2p coins increased with the surge in metal prices of the mid-2000s, until by 2006 the coins would, if melted down, have been worth about 50% more than their face value.^[16]

A circulating bimetallic two pound (£2) coin was introduced in 1998 (first minted in, and dated, 1997). There had previously been unimetallic commemorative £2 coins which did not normally circulate. This tendency to use the two pound coin for commemorative issues has continued since the introduction of the bimetallic coin, and a few of the older unimetallic coins have since entered circulation.

There are also commemorative issues of crowns. Until 1981, these had a face value of twenty-five pence (25p), equivalent to the five shilling crown used in pre-decimal Britain. However, in 1990 crowns were redenominated with a face value of five pounds (£5)^[17] as the previous value was considered not sufficient for such a high-status coin. The size and weight of the coin remained exactly the same. Decimal crowns are generally not found in circulation as their market value is likely to be higher than their face value, but they remain legal tender.

Obverse designs

All modern British coins feature a profile of the current monarch's head on the obverse. Until 2022, there had been only one monarch since decimalisation, Queen Elizabeth II, and her head appeared on all decimal coins minted up to that date, facing to the right (see also Monarch's profile, below). Five different effigies were used, reflecting the Queen's changing appearance as she aged. They were created by Mary Gillick (for coins minted until 1968), Arnold Machin (1968–1984), Raphael Maklouf (1985–1997), Ian Rank-Broadley (1998–2015), and Jody Clark (from 2015).^[18] In September 2022, the first portrait of Charles III was revealed, designed by Martin Jennings.^[19]

Most current coins carry a Latin inscription whose full form is ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX, meaning "Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith". The inscription appears in any of several abbreviated forms, typically ELIZABETH II D G REG F D. Those minted and circulated after the accession of Charles III are inscribed with CHARLES III DEI GRATIA REX FIDEI DEFENSOR.

2008 redesign

In 2008, UK coins underwent an extensive redesign which eventually changed the reverse designs of all coins, the first wholesale change to British coinage since the first decimal coins were introduced in April 1968.^[20] The major design feature was the introduction of a reverse design shared across six coins (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p), that can be pieced together to form an image of the Royal Shield. This was the first time a coin design had been featured across multiple coins in this way.^[20] To summarize the reverse design changes made in 2008 and afterwards:

• The 1p coin depicts the lower part of the first quarter and the upper part of the third quarter of the shield, showing the lions passant of England and the harp of Ireland respectively
• The 2p coin depicts most of the second quarter of the shield, showing the lion rampant of Scotland
• The 5p coin depicts the centre of the shield, showing the meeting and parts of the constituent parts of the shield
• The 10p coin depicts most of the first quarter of the shield, containing the three lions passant of England
• The 20p coin depicts the lower part of the second quarter and upper part of the fourth quarter, showing the lion rampant of Scotland and the lions passant of England respectively
• The 50p coin depicts the point of the shield and the bottom portions of the second and third quarters showing the harp of Ireland and lions passant of England respectively
• The round, nickel-brass £1 coin from 2008 to 2016 depicted the whole of the Royal Shield. From 2017 it was changed to a bimetallic 12-sided coin depicting a rose, leek, thistle and shamrock bound by a crown.
• The £2 coin from 2015 depicts Britannia.

The original intention was to exclude both the £1 and £2 coins from the redesign because they were "relatively new additions" to the coinage, but it was later decided to include a £1 coin with a complete Royal Shield design from 2008 to 2016,^[21] and the 2015 redesign of the £2 coin occurred due to complaints over the disappearance of Britannia's image from the 50p coin in 2008.^[22]

On all coins, the beading (ring of small dots) around the edge of the obverses has been removed. The obverse of the 20p coin has also been amended to incorporate the year, which had been on the reverse of the coin since its introduction in 1982 (giving rise to an unusual issue of a mule version without any date at all). The orientation of both sides of the 50p coin has been rotated through 180 degrees, meaning the bottom of the coin is now a corner rather than a flat edge. The numerals showing the decimal value of each coin, previously present on all coins except the £1 and £2, have been removed, leaving the values spelled out in words only.

The redesign was the result of a competition launched by the Royal Mint in August 2005, which closed on 14 November 2005. The competition was open to the public and received over 4,000 entries.^[20] The winning entry was unveiled on 2 April 2008, designed by Matthew Dent.^[20] The Royal Mint stated the new designs were "reflecting a twenty-first century Britain". An advisor to the Royal Mint described the new coins as "post-modern" and said that this was something that could not have been done 50 years previously.^[23]

The redesign was criticised by some for having no specifically Welsh symbol (such as the Welsh Dragon), because the Royal Shield does not include a specifically Welsh symbol. Wrexham Member of Parliament (MP) Ian Lucas, who was also campaigning to have the Welsh Dragon included on the Union Flag, called the omission "disappointing", and stated that he would be writing to the Queen to request that the Royal Standard be changed to include Wales.^[24] The Royal Mint stated that "the Shield of the Royal Arms is symbolic of the whole of the United Kingdom and as such, represents Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland."^[24] Designer Dent stated "I am a Welshman and proud of it, but I never thought about the fact we did not have a dragon or another representation of Wales on the design because as far as I am concerned Wales is represented on the Royal Arms. This was never an issue for me."^[24]

The Royal Mint's choice of an inexperienced coin designer to produce the new coinage was criticised by Virginia Ironside, daughter of Christopher Ironside who designed the previous UK coins. She stated that the new designs were "totally unworkable as actual coins", due to the loss of a numerical currency identifier, and the smaller typeface used.^[25]

The German news magazine Der Spiegel claimed that the redesign signalled the UK's intention "not to join the euro any time soon".^[26]

Changes after 2008

As of 2012, 5p and 10p coins have been issued in nickel-plated steel, and much of the remaining cupronickel types withdrawn, in order to retrieve more expensive metals. The new coins are 11% thicker to maintain the same weight.^[27][28] There are heightened nickel allergy concerns over the new coins. Studies commissioned by the Royal Mint found no increased discharge of nickel from the coins when immersed in artificial sweat. However, an independent study found that the friction from handling results in four times as much nickel exposure as from the older-style coins. Sweden already plans to desist from using nickel in coins from 2015.^[29]

In 2016, the £1 coin's composition was changed from a single-metal round shape to a 12-sided bi-metal design, with a slightly larger diameter, and with multiple past designs discontinued in favor of a single, unchanging design. Production of the new coins started in 2016,^[30] with the first, dated 2016, entering circulation 28 March 2017.^[31]

In February 2015, the Royal Mint announced a new design for the £2 coin featuring Britannia by Antony Dufort, with no change to its bimetallic composition.^[32]

Edge inscriptions on British coins used to be commonly encountered on round £1 coins of 1983–2016, but are nowadays found only on £2 coins. The standard-issue £2 coin from 1997 to 2015 carried the edge inscription STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS. The redesigned coin since 2015 has a new edge inscription QUATUOR MARIA VINDICO, Latin for "I will claim the four seas", an inscription previously found on coins bearing the image of Britannia. Other commemorative £2 coins have their own unique edge inscriptions or designs.

2023 redesign

In October 2023 the Royal Mint announced new designs for the circulating coinage, which were to be released by the end of the year.^[33][34] The new designs feature a portrait of King Charles III facing left on the obverse, with a small Tudor Crown privy mark behind the Kings’ neck. The reverses are divided vertically, the leftmost third comprising a background of three interlocking “C”s, reminiscent of the interlocking C’s on the coins of King Charles II, and a large number indicating the value, countering criticism of the 2008 redesign’s lack of numeric values. The rightmost two-thirds of each design features an animal or plant representing each of the four nations:

• 1p depicts the hazel dormouse.
• 2p depicts the red squirrel.
• 5p depicts English oak tree leaves and acorns.
• 10p depicts a western capercaillie.
• 20p depicts an Atlantic puffin.
• 50p depicts an Atlantic salmon.
• £1 depicts two bees.
• £2 depicts the four heraldic flowers of the United Kingdom: Tudor rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock, with the edge inscription IN SERVITIO OMNIUM, Latin for “In the service of all”, taken from the King's inaugural address on 9 September 2022.

Obsolete denominations

The following decimal coins have been withdrawn from circulation and have ceased to be legal tender.

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Coins_of_the_pound_sterling
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Denomination	Obverse	Reverse	Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Edge