- 2.975m new £1 coins will enter into circulation from today for first time since 2017
Britons will start to find new £1 coins in their change this week featuring King Charles III and they might create a buzz for numismatists.
The coin will enter circulation today the Royal Mint says and features bees. It is one of eight new coins which which were unveiled last October as part of a collectors’ set to feature King Charles.
It is the first time since the new style 12-sided coin launched that there is a circulating £1 coin with a different design to that which have the ‘nations of the crown’ on the reverse.
Buzzing: New £1 coin which features two bees and King Charles III’s portrait will enter into general circulation this week
There are believed to be around 750million £1 coins minted with that design.
However, this new bee design has a mintage of 2.975million. They were struck last November, so all have 2023 on them.
Whether or not more £1 coins will enter into circulation will depend on demand, with mintage figures for new coins being released at the end of the year – but there will be no more than 2.975million with 2023 stamped on them.
Last month, This is Money revealed that The Royal Mint plans to stop making new coins from scratch from December, instead focusing on ramping up its gold recovery facility.
Gregory Edmund, senior specialist at auctioneer Spink & Son said: ‘It is a surprise that the Royal Mint is issuing new coins at all given the announcement that they would stop producing new coins from scratch last month.
‘If they are going stick to a strictly 3million circulation figure that would be very unusual in how low it is.’
The number indicating the value of each of the new coins has been enlarged since the last time a new £1 coin was released in 2017.
The Royal Mint said this is ‘to help children understand the value of money’.
Cash payments increasingly make up a smaller proportion of all transactions. Cash use dropped last year to make up 12 per cent of all payments – and UK Finance says 22million adults are ‘primarily cashless.’
The data showed that 1.5million adults used cash as their main spending method last year, according to UK Finance data – the first rise since 2019.
Edmund said: ‘The coins will be be popular and garner general intrigue. With a circulation of 3million it will be one of the rarer £1 coins in circulation.
‘It goes to show the prevailing winds of change. It may be a dying ember moment where we don’t know how many more coins The Royal Mint will issue this year, so it could pay to collect it.’
Could the bee £1 coins be worth a mint in the future?
How much any new coin will be coveted by collectors one day depends on how many enter into circulation.
The scarcer a coin is, the more collectible it is, as Mr Edmund from Spink highlights above.
To put it into context, one of the most sought after coins is the fabled 2009 50p Kew Gardens coin. Only 210,000 of these coins were minted and they sell on eBay for as much as £250.
With almost 3million new £1 coins initially entering into circulation, one coin expert This is Money spoke to says they will not be worth more than face value.
Generally, circulating coins which have mistakes or errors struck on them, such as an incorrect date, attract a premium.
Phil Mussell, director of Token Publishing said: ‘These coins are not likely to be worth more than face value in the future.
‘A standard circulating coin is rarely of interest to collectors because they will become commonplace, and in time all coins in our pockets will feature King Charles III.
‘Granted some people will list them on eBay immediately and we could see some could sell for £5 because collectors want to be the first to have them, but these coins will not fetch any more than that.’
There is a collectible set of the uncirculated coins available to buy on The Royal Mint’s website starting from £33.
These coins in the collectors’ set feature a privy mark a small crown on the obverse or ‘heads’ design next to His Majesty’s effigy, which will mark them out from the ones people will get in their change from today.
Rebecca Morgan, director of commemorative coin at The Royal Mint, said: ‘The Royal Mint has made the circulating coinage of each of Britain’s monarchs since Alfred the Great and it is an honour to reveal that King Charles III’s £1 coin is now in circulation.
‘We know there’ll be a buzz of excitement among collectors and the public to get this special piece of history in their change. We hope the designs across all denominations spark important conversations about the conservation of these important species.’
SAVE MONEY, MAKE MONEY
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.