New Pounds for Old –

Round Pound Coin Goes the Way of the Dodo

Now we are in 2017 the Royal Mint is preparing to launch a new £1 coin to replace the old easily counterfeited round one. You’ll have met lots of counterfeits when you’ve tried to put a £1 coin in the parking meter or the drinks vending machine.  The vending machine or meter will reject it because the weight is wrong and it is a fraud. This has reached epidemic proportions so it is out with the old and in with the new.  

The Royal Mint says that approximately one in thirty £1 coins in circulation today is counterfeit. Which is pretty darn gobsmacking, but not as bad as the US Dollar which is the most counterfeited money of all  - because there is so much of it in circulation that it has been too difficult  to replace the notes and they just have to update designs and hope old fraudulent notes will get worn out or lost.

Like a Three Penny Bit

The £1 has been around for some 30 years now, but the criminals have for a long time been able to fake the shape and the look of it. So now the old style round and all gold coin is going and in its place there will be a 12-sided bimetallic coin with a hidden high-security feature to protect it from counterfeiting.  You’ll see this new beauty from March. It will remind older readers of the old three penny bit. 

The £1 will be bimetallic - the outer ring is gold coloured nickel-brass and the inner ring is a silver coloured alloy. It is thinner and lighter than the existing £1 coin but is slightly larger. The designs on the coins will feature the Scottish thistle, the English rose, the Welsh leek, and the Northern Irish shamrock emerging from one stem within a royal coronet.

Prepare Now

If you run a business you’ll need to prepare for the new coin coming in. After the new fivers in circulation in the south it is a period of distinct change.  For everyone to get used to it there will be a six-month transition period between March and October, when both the old £1 coin and the new £1 coin will be accepted but after October  the old coin will no longer be accepted or distributed, though people will be able to deposit them in their bank accounts.

Relax with Us

Here at James Pirie we will be able to take all of the confusion out of the change by being on line all the time and we’ll be able to help you through the ensuing muddle as we battle against fraudsters who have become all the more sophisticated as technology leaps ahead. We have secure shopping and great customer service, so relax and enjoy your time on our site.  Try our anniversary suggestions for those special times and how to mark them.

https://www.jamespirie.com/crystal/anniversary-presents.html