Our beloved round pound will soon be discontinued as the royal mint are bringing out a new 12 sided coin to fight against counterfeiting. The £1 coin stopped production in December last year, announcing the new 12 sided pound will be introduced in March and the £1 coin will not be legal as of October.
The royal mint decided to bring out a new coin due to a rising number of counterfeit pounds in the UK. In 2014, the royal mint announced that there was 1,553 million pound coins in the UK, in which 3.04% were counterfeit. Talks of a new coin had been circling for a few years, but the royal mint has now decided to push through with their plan to bring out a new pound coin.
Figures have generally been reported in the following year; the highest levels of counterfeits were in Northern Ireland (3.6%) and the South East and London (2.97%), with the lowest being in Northwest England.
To make counterfeiting harder for fraudsters, the pound will have special two major design features. The obvious change in the coin will be the shape. The pound coin will now have a 12 sides, which is intended to make it harder to copy. The second main feature will be that there will be an undisclosed hidden security feature called 'iSIS' (Integrated Secure Identification Systems).
The pound was first introduced by Queen Elizabeth in 1983, to replace the £1 note which used to circulate. The pound coin is one of the most used coins today in the UK. The royal mint also announced that the pound will no longer be in use in October and will cease to be legal tender.
The royal mint has told the public to surrender their pound coins to the bank before October, as they can be redeemed in return for notes or the new pound coins. The round pound will not be in use after October so make sure you give in your pounds by October, as your pounds will become worthless if not given in by October.
