£1 Coins
Rumours of fake £1 coins denied by Royal Mint
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?
These are the Top 10 tips to complete your £1 Coin Collection…
The Great One Pound Coin Race is well underway and lots of you have already managed to complete a full collection of £1 coins.
For those of you that haven’t don’t worry, there’s still time… but it is getting harder!
You’ve only got until 15 October to find all 24 circulating £1 coin designs so here are the Top 10 tips to complete your collection.
Since the release of the new 12-sided £1 coin last month, the new £1 has been turning up everywhere, and that means the round pounds will start to slowly disappear. That’s because the banks will stop issuing the round pounds and will start to take them out of circulation.
Lots of you have also come forward with your own tips and tricks for finding £1 coins…
How to enter the Great One Pound Coin Race
If you haven’t started your Great One Pound Coin Race yet, it’s not too late. Simply click here to enter today and you too could own a complete collection of £1 coins direct from your change before they’re gone for ever.
Poll: Choose your all-time favourite £1 coin design
As part of the Great One Pound Coin Race, we want to find out Britain’s ultimate favourite £1 coin.
Over the last couple of months we’ve been asking Change Checkers to vote for their favourite UK, Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh and English £1 coin designs.
Now this is the last poll left to vote in until we find out which £1 coin is Britain’s all-time favourite design.
Please vote for your favourite £1 coin from the finalists in the below poll: