Rumours of fake £1 coins denied by Royal Mint

By Change Checker | April 26, 2017 |

The Royal Mint has denied claims that there are already counterfeit 12-Sided £1 coins in circulation after a charity worker pointed out discrepancies between two coins.

Roy Wright, a charity worker from Surrey, was shocked when he noticed a few subtle differences between the two £1 coins, leading him to believe he had found the ‘first fake £1 coin’.

Impossible to counterfeit

Despite the new £1 coins being designed to be ‘impossible to counterfeit’, Mr Wright suggested that coin he had was heavier, had no hologram and the Queen’s head was positioned more to the left. Not only that, the edges were more rounded and there was no detail on the head of the thistle.

A genuine coin with a production fault…

Whilst the story has caused some excitement in the press and The Royal Mint has not yet been able to examine the offending coin, they are confident it is not a fake, but instead a genuine coin with a production fault.

Despite tight quality controls being in place, The Royal Mint has said that variances are likely to occur during the striking process in a small numbers of coins. Whilst such mis-strikes are relatively unusual and can be numismatically interesting, they are not the same as genuine errors.

Rumours of a genuine error in circulation

Unconfirmed rumours have also been circulating about some new £1 coins featuring two dates. There are reports of some coins having 2016 on the obverse and 2017 engraved in the micro lettering of the reverse.

Although, we are yet to see an example, if this is true, it would have to be the result of mis-matched 2016 and 2017 dies being used during production – a genuine error or “mule”.

You may need a magnifying glass to check if your £1 coin has a mixed die error.

Of course, it was the use of an incorrect die that resulted in the most famous modern “error” – the “undated 20p coin“, now regarded by many as the Holy Grail of change collecting. You can read more about the story of the undated 20p here.

If you’ve #foundapound in your change, have you spotted anything strange about it?

Posted in £1 Coins, Blog Home

18 Comments

  1. Steven M on May 9, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    I was bored …

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172667245931?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

    🙂



  2. Iain Burn on May 5, 2017 at 3:29 pm

    I am seeing so many impossible errors/mis-strikes on eBay. People are clearly knocking out the centre and either rotating it or flipping it then replacing it. Idiots are paying £200 for them. As for the thousands of people trying to sell 2016 dated coins as mistakes it beggars belief.



  3. Panda Kid on May 4, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    hello, I have 3 new £1 coins, all are dated on the Queen’s head side and on the golds part as 2016 but on the other side in tiny, tiny, tiny numbers (as per your image) it seems to read 2017. Minting error or do I just need new eyes!



  4. Rachel Stanford on April 30, 2017 at 11:24 am

    I have a new one pound coin. The coin is not right. On the outside edge only half is the 12 straight edges. Half way up It’s smooth all the way around.



  5. Sarah on April 30, 2017 at 9:54 am

    I have two new £1 coins and one is a completely different colour to the other??



  6. Bill Falconer on April 28, 2017 at 4:38 pm

    I now have 3 coins where the silver head is rotated 180 degrees.



    • Yasmin Britton on May 2, 2017 at 11:21 am

      Hi Bill, would you be able to post a photo of your £1 coin? Either on our Facebook or Twitter page or email us at [email protected] it would be very interesting to see! Thanks, Yasmin



      • Bill Falconer on May 2, 2017 at 1:17 pm

        Thanks Yasmin. Have sent you an email.



    • Dale on May 3, 2017 at 11:26 pm

      Hi Bill, are you selling any of these coins..
      Regards
      Dale



  7. Kevin mccafferty on April 28, 2017 at 6:53 am

    I have about 60 new 1pound coins and I have 1 that is different as the markings on the side of the coin don’t match if you look under the hologram the smooth parts to the left on all my coins but on the other one the smooth part is on the rite so the coin must have moved slightly before they made the markings on the side is this a minting error???????



    • Yasmin Britton on April 28, 2017 at 1:44 pm

      Hi Kevin, the Royal Mint have confirmed that no ‘fake’ £1 coins are in circulation so any £1’s you have with variations are genuine coins with a production fault. However, these variances are only likely to appear on a small number of coins but unfortunately such mis-strikes are not the same as genuine errors. I hope this helps. Thanks, Yasmin



  8. Angela hulford on April 27, 2017 at 6:25 pm

    I have one of these “fake” new one pound coins!! Is there any more information on these? Thanks Angela



    • Yasmin Britton on April 28, 2017 at 8:25 am

      Hi Angela, The Royal Mint have confirmed that there are no ‘fake’ 12-sided £1 coins in circulation and instead any new £1 coin with differences are thought to be because of a production fault. Hope this helps. Thanks, Yasmin



      • Kevin mccafferty on April 28, 2017 at 9:34 am

        CAN you tell me if mines is a minting error I posted this morning and haven’t had a reply plz?



      • Angela hulford on April 28, 2017 at 4:35 pm

        Thanks Yasmin, I will keep hold of it just in case x



      • Tom Liddle on May 6, 2017 at 10:37 am

        Hi Yasmin,I have bought a medal/coin and it was supposed to be minted for Royal Mint staff for the 1977 jubilee.
        Around 800 were supposedly minted and it is beautiful.
        How would I be able to confirm this ?
        Regards,
        Tom.



  9. Jodie on April 27, 2017 at 4:21 pm

    I have used a magnifying glass and can only see dots, I’ve never seen a date so tiny!



  10. Bill Falconer on April 26, 2017 at 9:14 pm

    I have one where the silver head is rotated through 180 degrees, that is the the Queens hair is at the bottom of the coin directly above the hologram and her neck is at the top of the coin.