New 12-sided £1 coin to enter circulation in March

Update 9 October 2017: The old one pound coin is set to go out of circulation at the end of this week. From 15 October onwards, consumers will only be able to use the new, 12-sided design, but any unspent old coins can still be traded in at banks.

Update 28 March 2017: The new one pound coin is set to launch today. Consumers can expect to see the 12-sided design in shops, banks and other businesses after it enters circulation.

The Royal Mint has revealed the new one pound coin design, featuring 12 sides and two different metals.

Developed by The Royal Mint’s in-house team, it is intended to be “the most secure coin in the world”, says the body, and is set to enter nationwide circulation on 28 March.

The new one pound coin design is the first to be introduced in over 30 years, and is comprised of a gold-coloured outer ring of nickel-brass and a silver-coloured inner ring made from nickel-plated alloy.

Micro-lettering and milled edges

It has several other features designed to make it more difficult to counterfeit, including a hologram-like image on one side which changes from a “£” symbol to the number one at different angles, micro-lettering on the lower inside rim and milled edges with grooves on alternate sides.

One side of the coin shows a design by 15-year-old David Pearce, made up of the English rose, the Welsh leek, the Scottish thistle and the Northern Irish shamrock all emerging from one stem within a royal coronet.

Pearce completed the original design as part of a public design competition, beating over 6,000 other entries. The design was then adapted for the coin by artist David Lawrence.

“Harder to counterfeit than ever before”

The other side of the coin is the work of Royal Mint coin designer, Jody Clark, whose design was chosen from a number of anonymous submissions. It shows a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen.

Chief secretary to the treasury, David Gauke, says: “This is a historic moment as it’s the first time we’ve introduced a new one pound coin since 1983, and this one will be harder to counterfeit than ever before.”

More than one billion of the brand new one pound coins are currently being struck by The Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales ahead of the launch in March.

The existing one pound coins will lose their legal tender status from 15 October.