By 1980 it had become apparent that with the general decline in purchasing power, the £1 unit of currency was more appropriate to a coin than a banknote. After consultation with many groups including retailers and special interest groups, the Government announced on 31 July 1981 that a new £1 coin that was to be issued on 21 April 1983. Since its launch the £1 has always represented the United Kingdom and its constituent parts; England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The £1 coin in base metal (as opposed to the gold sovereign, which has a nominal face value of one pound too), nickel-brass was introduced in 1983, as a replacement for the £1 banknote. The reverse design of the first £1 coin showed a depiction of the Royal Coat of Arms, representing the United Kingdom as a whole. It was issued until 2015 in rotation with other designs representing Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, alternating each year in that order.
Starting in 1988, the Royal Mint introduced a variety of one-year types, representing either the constituent countries again - but with their floral emblems, or major cities, or architectural features (bridges). After 2008, these supplemented the "regular" Shield of the Royal Arms design by Matthew Dent which was introduced with the general change of reverse designs, where the smaller denominations (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins) depict sections of the Royal Shield that form the whole shield when placed together, and the shield in its entirety is featured on the £1 coin.
The coins are made of Nickel-Brass, with composition of 70% copper, 5.5% nickel and 24.5% zinc.
These coins circulated until 2017, when they were demonetised and replaced with the current bimetallic one pound coin. |
