£1 coin to be replaced with 12-sided version says Chancellor

[dutchman]

The £1 coin is to be replaced by a new 12-sided version because it has become an easy target for forgers, George Osborne will announce in his Budget today.



The new pound coin, to be introduced from 2017, will have the same shape as the old three pence piece or “threepenny bit” which was withdrawn when the currency was decimalised in 1971.

An estimated 45 million of the £1 coins now in circulation are forgeries – three per cent of the total. In some parts of the UK, the figure is as high as six per cent. About 2m counterfeit £1 coins have been removed from circulation each year in recent years.

The Chancellor will tell the Commons the new pound coin will be “the most secure in the world.” It will be composed of two metals of different colours and include Royal Mint secure technology so it can be authenticated at every point in the cash cycle.

The Queen will be on the “heads” side of the coin, and there will be a public competition to decide what should appear on the “tails” side.

A Treasury source said: “After 30 years loyal service, the time is right to retire the current £1 coin. With advances in technology making high value coins like the £1 ever more vulnerable to counterfeiters, it’s vital that we keep several paces ahead of the criminals to maintain the integrity of our currency. We are particularly pleased that the coin will take a giant leap into the future, using cutting edge British technology while at the same time, paying a fitting tribute to past in the12-sided design of the iconic threepenny bit”.