There are now so many fake £1 coins in circulation the Royal Mint could be forced to scrap all of the coins and reissue the entire denomination.
Their warning came as new figures indicated there were £41 million fake £1 coins in Britain – one in every 36 in circulation. This is a record level and suggests that the proportion of counterfeit coins had tripled in the last decade. The situation has worsened since last year, when ...
Full Article: Record number of fake £1 coins could force reissue - Telegraph.co.uk
Britannia once again majestically adorns a new collection of gold and silver coins released by the British Royal Mint within its 2010 Britannia Silver and Gold Collections.
These coins come in four different sizes including one ounce, one half ounce, one quarter ounce and one tenth ounce — with all of them featuring a new design of Britannia on the reverse as envisioned by artist Suzie Zamit.
Zamit’s work marks the ninth new Britannia design to be seen on the silver proof coins since their debut back in 1997. The Gold Proof Britannias launched a decade earlier in 1987. Zamit studied sculpture at the City & Guilds School in London and currently ...
Full Article: 2010 UK Britannia Coins - CoinNews
Consumers in different areas of the UK have differing levels of cash use, according to the Royal Mint.
Cash use as a proportion of spending is generally higher in northern regions than in areas such as London, said Andrew Mills, of the Mint ... Demand for newly minted UK coins stood at 1.2 billion pieces in 2008-9, with a value of £163m ...
Full Article: Cash use 'depends on geography' - BBC News
The Royal Mint has released its new limited edition £1 London coin in gold and silver, which is part of the new series of four £1 coins representing the UK’s capital cities.
The series has been designed with a contemporary twist by the famous international coin designer Stuart Devlin, Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Queen. In spite of having designed coins for many countries throughout the world, this is the first time he has designed for the UK.
The full £1 UK Cities series, which together commemorate England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by focusing on the four capital cities, will be unrolled over the next two years. The gold and silver coins to commemorate Belfast will be available from Summer 2010, with the Cardiff and Edinburgh coins due to be launched in ...
Full Article: Royal Mint's New UK Cities Series Begins - CoinNews
A sixteen-year-old schoolboy from Rishworth School, Halifax has entered the history books today after becoming the first teenager to design a British coin.
Theo Crutchley-Mack entered a nationwide secondary school competition, organized by the Royal Mint, in April 2009, to create a London Olympic Games cycling themed 50p. His design, featuring a rider racing a bike in a Velodrome, beat off huge competition from over 3,000 entries from pupils across the country.
To mark his achievement Dave Knight, The Royal Mint’s Director of Commemorative Coin, officially announced Theo’s win at a surprise assembly at Rishworth School ...
Full Article: Teenager Designs London 2012 Olympic Coin - CoinNews
At the end of December 2009, the Police Service of Northern Ireland issued advice to the public following reports that a number of counterfeit £1 coins had been detected in circulation across Northern Ireland.
The Royal Mint supports this advice and is seeking to correct an inaccuracy that has been reported in the Northern Irish media. It has been suggested in some reports that £1 coins created in 2008 with heraldic designs that do not have beading (i.e. a ring of small elevated circles around the edge) are counterfeit. This is incorrect.
There were two separate £1 coin designs created in 2008, one with beading and one without. Both are genuine legal tender and not counterfeit. The beading was removed on one version as part of a design initiative. It may not ...
Full Article: Circulating Counterfeit £1 Coin Differences - CoinNews
In case readers haven’t noticed, we are just now beginning to emerge from the Great Recession. If any readers are having financial problems due to the economy they have two choices...
Blasphemy you say, regarding selling the coin collection. Reduce expenses and paying off the debt makes more sense. Well, tell that to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labour Party, who have publicly said they would rather sell off government-owned assets that include the British Royal Mint rather than ...
Full Article: Sale of British Mint Considered - NumisMaster
The U.K.’s Royal Mint, established in the 13th century, more than quadrupled production of gold coins in the third quarter after demand for the metal increased as investors sought to hedge against a weakening dollar.
Output rose to 32,735.8 ounces from 7,500.2 ounces a year before, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request. Production in the first nine months more than tripled to 100,391.3 ounces, the data show.
Full Article: U.K. Royal Mint Quadruples Production of Gold Coins - Bloomberg.com
For the first time in Big Ben’s 150 year history, a new £5 Crown, from the Royal Mint is being used to help London’s iconic clock keep time. The 2009 Big Ben £5 Crown was today placed inside the movement of the Great Clock and will play an essential role in maintaining its famous accuracy.
The coin change-over forms part of Big Ben’s 150th Anniversary celebrations, with the new £5 Crown, one of the official London 2012 licensed coins, replacing some of the pre-decimal pennies which have acted as weights inside the clock since 1859. This is the first time any of the coins inside the clock have been changed.
As part of the Royal Mint’s collection celebrating London 2012, a further 100,000 of the commemorative coin have been specially minted by the Royal Mint to help the public celebrate Big Ben’s momentous anniversary and are available now to purchase from www.royalmint.com.
Full Article: Big Ben £5 Crown Coin Keeps Clock on Time - CoinNews
