New £1 Coin Will Be Hardest To Fake

New £1 Coin Will Be Hardest To Fake

A new £1 coin has been unveiled by the Treasury that is said to be the hardest in the world to fake.

The new coin will have the same shape as the old 12-sided three pence piece or ‘threepenny bit’.

The current £1 coin has been in circulation for more than 30 years – much longer than the normal life cycle of a modern British coin. Its technology is no longer suitable for a coin of its value, leaving it vulnerable to ever more sophisticated counterfeiters.

In figures released today, the Royal Mint estimates that about 3 per cent of all £1 coins are now forgeries. In some parts of the UK, it is as high as 5 per cent. Over the past few years, around two million fake £1 coins have been removed from circulation each year. This is a direct cost to the banks and cash handling centres, and to the economy.

The government will consult on the new coin in detail, focusing on the impacts on business, and expects to introduce it in 2017.

As with all UK coins, the Queen’s effigy will be on the ‘heads’ side, but the Treasury has announced today announced that there will be a public competition to decide the design for the reverse, or ‘tails’ side of the coin.