Coins of the pound sterling

In addition to the circulating coinage, the UK also mints commemorative decimal coins (crowns) in the denomination of five pounds, ceremonial Maundy money in the denomination of 1, 2, 3 and 4 pence in sterling (.925) silver and bullion coinage of gold sovereigns, half sovereigns, and gold and silver Britannia coins are also produced.

The same coinage is used across the United Kingdom: unlike banknotes, local issues of coins are not produced for different parts of the UK.

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.

The estimated volume in circulation as at March 2016 is:[5] 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.

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.

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.

By 1696, the currency had been seriously weakened by an increase in clipping during the Nine Years' War[10] to the extent that it was decided to recall and replace all hammered silver coinage in circulation.

[11] The exercise came close to disaster due to fraud and mismanagement,[12] 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.

[13] As a result of a report written by Newton on 21 September 1717 to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury[14] the bimetallic relationship between gold coins and silver coins was changed by royal proclamation on 22 December 1717, forbidding the exchange of gold guineas for more than 21 silver shillings.

They were created by Mary Gillick (for coins minted until 1968), Arnold Machin (1968–1984), Raphael Maklouf (1985–1997), Ian Rank-Broadley (1998–2015), and Jody Clark (from 2015).

She stated that the new designs were "totally unworkable as actual coins", due to the loss of a numerical currency identifier, and the smaller typeface used.

[25] The German news magazine Der Spiegel claimed that the redesign signalled the UK's intention "not to join the euro any time soon".

[26] As of 2012, 5p and 10p coins have been issued in nickel-plated steel, and much of the remaining cupronickel types withdrawn, in order to retrieve more expensive metals.

Studies commissioned by the Royal Mint found no increased discharge of nickel from the coins when immersed in artificial sweat.

However, an independent study found that the friction from handling results in four times as much nickel exposure as from the older-style coins.

[31] In February 2015, the Royal Mint announced a new design for the £2 coin featuring Britannia by Antony Dufort, with no change to its bimetallic composition.

The rightmost two-thirds of each design features an animal or plant representing each of the four nations: The following decimal coins have been withdrawn from circulation and have ceased to be legal tender.

Circulating fifty pence and two pound coins have been issued with various commemorative reverse designs, typically to mark the anniversaries of historical events or the births of notable people.

For example, in 2023 a 50 pence piece was announced, the first coin depicting King Charles III, and celebrating the fictional wizard Harry Potter.

[36] The following are special-issue commemorative coins, seldom encountered in normal circulation due to their precious metal content or collectible value, but are still considered legal tender.

Royal Mint guidelines advise that, although these coins were approved as legal tender, they are considered limited edition collectables not intended for general circulation.

Maundy money is a ceremonial coinage traditionally given to the poor, and nowadays awarded annually to deserving senior citizens.

Outside the United Kingdom, the British Crown Dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey use the pound sterling as their currencies.

[47] A similar pre-decimal system operated in France, also based on the Roman currency, consisting of the livre (L), sol or sou (s) and denier (d).

Some pre-decimalisation coins or denominations became commonly known by colloquial and slang terms, perhaps the most well known being bob for a shilling, and quid for a pound.

The unaccented suffix "-pence", pronounced /pəns/, was similarly appended to the other numbers up to twelve; thus "fourpence", "sixpence-three-farthings", "twelvepence-ha'penny", but "eighteen pence" would usually be said "one-and-six".

[60] The half farthing (⁠1/8⁠ of a penny, ⁠1/1920⁠ of a pound) coin was initially minted in 1828 for use in Ceylon, but was declared legal tender in the United Kingdom in 1842.

It resulted from the accidental combination of old and new face tooling in a production batch, creating what is known as a mule, following the 2008 redesign which moved the date from the reverse (tails) to the obverse (heads) side.