Posts by Change Checker
Britain’s favourite £1 coin – Vote now
As part of the Great One Pound Coin Race, we want to find out Britain’s favourite £1 coin.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be asking you to vote for your favourite £1 designs from each design category – UK, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.
Let us know your favourite UK £1 coin design by voting in our poll below:
[polldaddy poll=”9651682″]
More information about the UK £1 coin designs
The UK Royal Arms £1 was issued in 1983, 1993, 2003, and 2008
The £1 Coin was first issued in 1983 as a replacement for the less robust £1 note – a note lasted for just 9 months on average, while a £1 coin can survive in excess of 40 years. The first £1 coin design features the Royal Coat of Arms designed by Eric Sewell, chief engraver at the Royal Mint.
The UK Crowned Shield £1 was issued in 1988
In 1988 a Crowned Royal Shield of Arms design was introduced. This design features the Royal Arms of Her Majesty The Queen, surmounted by the Crown of St Edward. All coins dated 1988 feature this design as this was the only year it was issued.
The UK Royal Arms Shield was issued in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
In 2008 a new reverse design for the £1 was issued featuring the Royal Shield of Arms – designed by Timothy Noad. The edge inscription in Latin reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN which translates as; An Ornament and a Safeguard. This dates back to the first machine struck coins minted in 1662 and refers to the inscription itself which was intended to prevent people scraping valuable metal off the edge of the coin – a process known as ‘clipping’.
The UK Royal Coat of Arms was issued in 2015
In 2015 The Royal Mint revealed a new £1 Coin design. Timothy Noad’s contemporary adaptation of the traditional Royal Arms design is one of the last commemorative designs to feature on the round pound coin, with the newly shaped coin due to enter circulation in 2017.
The UK Last Round Pound was issued in 2016
This 2016 £1 coin is the final ‘round pound’ issued by the Royal Mint, calling time on a coin which was first issued more than thirty years ago. The reverse design features the animals that represent each of the four constituent UK countries and was designed by Gregory Cameron. This coin will not enter general circulation and is only available to buy in a Brilliant Uncirculated quality.
Next week- Part 2: What’s your favourite Scottish £1 coin design?
This could be your last chance to secure Britain’s last ’round pound’.
If you want to get your hands on the last ‘round pound’ they are available here protectively encapsulated and certified as superior Brilliant Uncirculated quality.
21 tips to complete your Great One Pound Coin Race
The Race is on…
You’ve only got until 15 October to find all 24 circulating £1 coin designs. And after the new 12-sided £1 Coin is released on 28 March, it will get harder as banks start to replace the £1 coins they receive with the new 12-sided £1 coin.
So that’s why we’ve put our heads together to give you 21 Top Tips to complete your Great One Pound Coin Race in time.
- Check your change drawer / change pot
- Ask friends and family
- Go to the bank and change notes to £1 coins
- Swap with the Change Checker web app – changechecker.org
- Befriend the local corner shop / launderette owner and ask them for their £1 coins
- Arcade / bingo change machines
- Pay with a note and round up with loose change to maximise your £1 coin change
- Look for Facebook swap groups
- Raid your children’s piggy banks (and replace them with notes!)
- Look for abandoned supermarket trolleys
- Check down the back of the sofa
- Check old handbags
- Set up a lottery syndicate and collect the payments in round £1 coins
- Have a bake sale – everything a round £1 coin
- Offer to count up any collections and swap out the £1 coins for notes
- Car boot sale – everything is “One Round Pound”
- Pay car park charges in notes and receive the change in coins
- Check any tips your friends might be leaving at restaurants
- Always carry some £1 coins with you so you can swap any time you see a good one
- Check gym lockers
- Try to build a collection as a group – e.g. a school class – 30 Change Checkers are better than 1!
Win a Gold-plated Participant’s Medal
Do you have any more tips?
We’ll be giving away some special 24-Carat Gold Plated Great One Pound Coin Participant’s Medals to the best ideas. Simply comment below with your top tip.
How to enter the Great One Pound Coin Race
If you haven’t started your Great One Pound Coin Race yet, it’s not too late. Simply click here to enter today and you too could own a complete collection of £1 coins direct from your change before they’re gone for ever.
The Great One Pound Coin Race Starts Today – just 250 days to own a complete £1 Coin Collection
You have just 250 days to collect all 24 Round £1 Coin Designs.
They’ve been a part of our lives for 33 years but the Round Pound Coin will be withdrawn from circulation forever on the 15th October this year.
Starting from today, we’re encouraging collectors across the UK, to join the biggest race of its kind ever held – The Great One Pound Coin Race.
It’s totally FREE to enter the Race and by entering you’ll be able to:
- Collect all 24 circulating £1 coins direct from your change
- Receive collecting tips and suggestions to help you complete your One Pound Collection
- Track your progress with the Change Checker web app or on your FREE downloadable £1 Coin Race Sheet
- Swap coins online with other collectors to help complete your collection
- Win exclusive Gold-plated One Pound Coin Race Participant’s Medals
- Receive exclusive participant’s discounts and savings
33 Years of Round £1 Coins. 24 Designs. Gone in 250 days.
The first £1 coin was issued in 1983
The first £1 coin entered circulation right back in 1983 and featured the Royal Coat of Arms as its design. It was quickly followed the next year with a Scottish thistle design, followed by the Welsh leek, Northern Irish flax and the English oak in subsequent years.
In total 24 different designs have entered circulation with five different series representing the component countries of the UK. The remaining four designs have all been variations on the theme of the Royal Coats Arms. A final, twenty-fifth Round Pound Coin was issued by The Royal Mint in 2016 but it never entered general circulation.
Scarce £1 Coins still available for face value in your change
Of course some £1 coins are much rarer than others. It’s partly because mintages of the different designs vary vastly, from less than 1 million coins to over 300 million. But that’s only part of the story. Older issues are also often more difficult to find, especially in good condition.
The 3 lowest mintage £1 coins come from a series of UK Capital Cities issued in 2010/11
The three lowest mintage £1 coins in circulation come from a series of UK Capital City coins issued in 2010/11, with Edinburgh being the rarest with a mintage of 935,000 coins – just 0.04% of all the £1 coins ever struck.
But it’s still possible to find even these rare coins in your change along with all of the other 21 circulation £1 coins. But only for the next 250 days.
Once the 15 October has passed, you will have little chance of building a complete collection of £1 Coins at anything like their face value. So …
on your marks…
Get set…
Go…
The Great One Pound Coin Race is on. Start your race today, before it’s too late.