The standard circulating coinage of the pound sterling is denominated in pounds (symbol "£", ISO 4217 code GBP) divided into 100 pence, and values range (for coins in circulation) from one penny to two pounds. Before decimalisation in 1971, twelve pence made each shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Until decimalisation, circulating coinage ranged from the halfpenny to the crown (five shillings). As a prelude to full decimalisation, coins marked as 5, 10 and 50 new pence had circulated from 1968 (5p and 10p) and 1969 (50p) which until 1971 were valid for the amounts of one, two and ten shillings respectively.
British coins are minted by the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales (though some Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have their own mint of sterling). The Royal Mint also commissions the coins' designs; however they also have to be accepted by the reigning monarch.
In addition to the circulating coinage, the UK also mints commemorative decimal coins (crowns) in the denomination of five pounds, ceremonial Maundy money in denominations of 1, 2, 3 and 4 pence in sterling (.925) silver; bullion coinage of gold sovereigns, half sovereigns, and gold and silver Britannia coins is 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; these coins are not legal tender in the mainland United Kingdom.
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, , 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, , translates to "Charles III, by the grace of God, King and Defender of the Faith". The denomination may be on either side.
+Details of coins 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 (2008–2022) 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 King Charles III Hazel dormouse 2023 Two pence Queen Elizabeth II Plume of ostrich feathers within a coronet (1971–2008)Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–2022) 25.9 mm 1.85 mm 7.12 g Bronze 1971 2.03 mm Copper-plated steel 1992 King Charles III Red squirrel Not in circulation Five pence Queen Elizabeth II Crowned thistle (1968–2008)Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–2022) 18 mm 1.7 mm 3.25 gCupronickel (3:1) Milled 19901.89 mmNickel-plated steel 2012 King Charles III Oak tree leaf 2025 Ten pence Queen Elizabeth II Crowned lion (1968–2008)Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–2022) 24.5 mm 1.85 mm 6.5 g Cupronickel (3:1) 19922.05 mmNickel-plated steel 2012 King Charles III Capercaillie 2026 Twenty pence Queen Elizabeth II Crowned Tudor Rose 21.4 mm 1.7 mm 5 g Cupronickel (5:1) Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon 1982 Segment of the Royal Arms 2008 King Charles III Puffin Not in circulation Fifty pence Queen Elizabeth II 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 Various commemorative designs December 2022 Atlantic salmon 2023 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 alloyOuter: Nickel-brass Alternately milled and plain (12-sided) 28 March 2017 King Charles III Bees 2024 Two pounds Queen Elizabeth II Abstract concentric design representing technological development 28.4 mm 2.5 mm 12 g Inner: CupronickelOuter: Nickel-brass Milled with variable inscription and/or decoration 1997 (issued 1998)Various commemorative designs1999Britannia2015 King Charles III Various commemorative designs 2023 National flowers: rose, daffodil, thistle and shamrock Not in circulation
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.
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 and the earlier, larger 5p, 10p and 50p pieces, the pre-2008 coins remain legal tender and are expected to stay in circulation for the foreseeable future.
The Royal Mint no longer publishes estimates of each coin in circulation, and gives an overall estimate of 27 billion (27 thousand million) . The estimated volume of each coin in circulation was:
Denomination Number ofpieces(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.
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 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 10 grains in 1527.
The history of the Royal Mint stretches back to AD 886. 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. Historically Scotland and England had separate coinage; the last Scottish coins were struck in 1709 shortly after union with England.
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' WarKleer, Richard. "The 1696 Recoinage (1696–1699)". . The Literary Encyclopedia. University of Regina. to the extent that it was decided to recall and replace all hammered silver coinage in circulation.Levenson, Thomas. Newton and the Counterfeiter. Faber & Faber. The exercise came close to disaster due to fraud and mismanagement,Murray, Athol L. (1999). "The Scottish Mint after the recoinage, 1709–1836". . Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 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. 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.Murray, Athol L. (1997). "Sir Isaac Newton and the Scottish recoinage, 1707–10". . Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.