The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Round pound not sound, so here’s its 12-sided substitute
A shiny new coin will soon start turning up in the nation’s wallets and pockets. Vicky Shaw gives her insider’s guide to the new £1
The Royal Mint, in Llantrisant, SouthWales, is producing 1.5billion new £1 coins at a rate of up to 2,000 a minute and a staggering 3million every day.
The new 12-sided coin, which resembles the old threepenny bit for those old enough to remember, enters circulation on March 28.
It may be a little while later before you start seeing it in your loose change.
According to recent research from Mastercard, fewer than one in five people (17%) realise the new coin enters circulation on this date.
So here’s what you need to know about the new coin: Why the change? The new coin boasts hitech security features, including a hologram.
It is being produced following concerns about sophisticated counterfeiters’ ability to produce fakes of the old “round pound”, which was first introduced more than 30 years ago.
Around one in every 30 £1 coins in people’s change in recent years has been a fake.
What does the new £1 coin look like?
It is based on the design of the old 12-sided threepenny bit, which went out of circulation in 1971.
The new coin is made of two metals, with a goldcoloured outer ring and a silver-coloured inner ring. It has very small lettering on both sides of the coin and milled edges.
It is thinner and lighter than the round pound, but its diameter is slightly larger.
The design of the coin also has features reflecting England, Wales, Scotland andNorthern Ireland, with a rose, a leek, a thistle and a shamrock.
What will happen to the old £1 coins?
Some of them will be melted down and reused to make the new £1 coins.
Remember to have a piggy bank clearout by October.
At first, the new £1 coin will be accepted in shops alongside the round pound.
But the roundpoundwill be phased out of use so it’s important to go through your drawers, jam jars and anywhere else you keep your loose change to hand in any old coins. People are being urged to return the round pounds before they lose their legal tender status. They can either spend them before October 15 or bank them.
The Royal Mint has produced more than 2.2billion round pounds since 1983, equating to the weight of nearly 6,000 elephants.
Around £ 1.3billion worth of coins are being stored in savings jars across the country and the round pound is thought to account for nearly a third of these. Mastercard’s research suggests that young adultsaged18 to24are particularly likely to have larger numbers of £1 coins sitting around at home.
Since the original £1 coin wasfirst minted in 1983, inflation has wiped away two-thirds of its value in real terms, according to analysis by M&G Investments.
It found that, when the eroding impact of inflation is taken into account, a £1 coin left sitting in a piggy bank since 1983 would be worth just 32p now.
If the pound had instead been put in a cash savings account in 1983, itwouldbe worth around £1.33 today in real terms, according to the calculations.
And if it had been invested in stocks and shares, its real value could now be around £11.66.