£1 Coins
Do you remember the £1 note?
In 1984 it was announced the English £1 note would be completely phased out.
It’s now been 30 years since the humble £1 banknote ceased to be legal tender, having been gradually replaced by the £1 coin and fully removed from circulation in 1988.
To remember this lost gem from the 80’s, we’ve put together 10 facts about our banknotes and coins;
1) The pound note was replaced by the pound coin and officially withdrawn from circulation in 1988.
2) Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was sceptical about the new coin which was first issued in 1983. She told MPs it was “not very popular” and believed the pound note would be retained.
3) The Royal Mint justified the logic behind replacing the £1 note with a coin: “The £1 note was in constant use on average lasting only nine months, whereas a coin can last as long as forty years and with the growth in the vending industry it was felt that a coin would be more useful.”
4) The first £10 note was issued in 1759 in response to gold shortages caused by the Seven Years War. The first £5 notes followed in 1793.
5) Five pounds was the lowest denomination in note form until 1797, when a series of runs on the Bank of England led to it issuing £1 and £2 notes.
6) Cashiers previously had the pain-staking task of filling in the name of the payee and signing each bank note individually. They were relieved of this duty after the first fully printed notes appeared in 1853.
7) Bank notes come in different ascending sizes, so the £5 note is smaller than the £10 which is smaller than the £20.
8) The withdrawal of the pound note in the 1980s was the biggest change to our currency since decimalisation in 1971.
9) The first £2 coin was issued in 1986 to commemorate the 13th Commonwealth Games being held in Scotland. The coin was not in general circulation until 1998.
10) The highest value note in circulation is £50. The most recent version is the first banknote to feature two Britons on the back – James Watt and Matthew Boulton.
Own the Last English £1 Banknote
This £1 Banknote features the signature of the Chief Cashier at the time, D H F Somerset, and a portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Could you spot a fake £1 coin?
One Pound coins were first issued in 1983, but one in every thirty £1 coins is now a fake. These forgeries cost the Government £2million every year.
Counterfeits £1 coins are becoming easier to copy and harder to spot which is why The Royal Mint have decided to issue a brand new 12-sided £1 coin which is billed to become the most secure circulating coin in the world.
The new 12-sided £1 coin will be an ultra-secure replacement which will be harder for forgers to copy. They will also last 5 years longer than the current round pound coins.
It has become increasingly difficult for consumers to spot fake coins.
The figure of counterfeit coins has more than doubled in the past decade, and shockingly now three out of every 100 coins in circulation are fakes.
Counterfeits are becoming a closer match to the real thing, making it increasingly difficult for consumers to spot the difference. Usually, the only way you would notice a fake is if it were rejected from a vending or ticket machine.
The majority of coins are stamped out, which involves pressing a piece of metal against a specially cut die. However they can differ from the genuine article in many ways.
Here are a few tell-tale signs to look out for;
Appearance
The coin has been circulating for a long time according to its date of issue, yet it appears surprisingly new. Genuine pound coins lose their lustre when they have been in circulation for a number of years. Also fake coins tend to be more yellow or golden than the real thing.
Design
The design on the reverse doesn’t match the official design for the year it was issued – you can find all these designs on the Change Checker website. The first was introduced in 1983 and the reverse design has changed every year since.
Edge lettering
The lettering or inscription on the edge of a genuine £1 coin must correspond with the year date. Often the milled edge on counterfeits isn’t well defined and the lettering is uneven, badly spaced or indistinct.
Alignment
Hold the coin so that the Queen’s head is upright and facing you – the design on the reverse side should also be upright and not at an angle.
Unlike notes, coins are not usually banked, but instead circulate between the till and the customer’s pocket and back again which makes them more difficult to remove from circulation. The probability is that you have already used a counterfeit £1 coin as payment for something without realising, such is the quality of the fakes.
Remember, a fake £1 coin is not only absolutely worthless but it’s also illegal to pass it on to anyone else.
All the more reason to be regularly checking your change…
Wanted – Britain’s most sought-after coins.
Using our Change Checker stats we have recently embarked on some number crunching to gain an accurate idea of collecting patterns – here we reveal which coins are the most requested by users.
The results may surprise you..
Olympic 50p
1. Judo
2. Football
3. Triathlon
Of the 29 Olympic 50ps which are still proving immensely popular with collectors, the most sought-after coin is Judo, closely followed by the highly publicised football 50p which explains the offside rule through a simple diagram. The triathlon design takes the bronze medal in third place.
£2
1. London Underground (Roundel)
3. London 2012 Handover to Rio
The London Underground £2 series was released at the start of the year to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the tube, and it is the iconic Roundel logo design which tops the table of most requested in the £2 category.
Not far behind is the innovative Charles Dickens £2 which was issued last year and features the author’s famous profile crafted from the titles of his most famous works. The London 2012 Handover to Rio £2 marking last year’s Olympic handover ceremony makes up the top three in the category.
50p
1. WWF
2. Girl Guides
One coin which has seemed to unite favourable public opinion is the WWF 50p issued in 2011. The design by Matthew Dent features 50 individual icons which represent the various facets of the WWF with the famous Panda at the heart of it.
The design tops the most requested by Change Checkers in the 50p category, closely followed by the Girl Guides. The UK’s entry to EEC was the first commemorative design of the newly sized 50ps, and this is currently the third most requested.
£1
1. London
2. Belfast
3. Cardiff
£1 coins often go unnoticed as commemorative issues, but there are four different series of £1 designs which have been in circulation for nearly 30 years. They all carry the same concept of representing each of the four constituent countries in the UK through various themes.
There was an obvious trend in the Change Checker results with the Capital Cities series making up the entire top 3 with London the most requested, followed by Belfast and Cardiff.
Have you got any of these coins available to swap? Maybe even all four in our wanted poster? If so you’ll be a very popular person in the Change Checker Swap Centre.