British coinage

Obverse and overturn of universal coins in existing circulation, £2, £1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and 1pThe British money was decimalised on February 15, 1971. The fundamental unit of currency – the Pound was unchanged. Before decimalization there were 240 (old) pennies in a pound, at present there are 100 new pence. The new coins were visible with the wording "New Penny" (singular) or "New Pence" (plural) to differentiate them from the old. The word New was dropped following ten years. The symbol p was also adopted to distinguish the new pennies from the old, which used the symbol d.

The first pound coin was introduced in 1983 to replace the Bank of England £1 banknote which was discontinued in 1984 (although the Scottish banks continued producing them for some time afterwards. The last of them, the Royal Bank of Scotland £1 note, remained in production until 2003). A circulating bimetallic £2 coin was also introduced in 1998 (first minted in, and dated, 1997) – there had before been commemorative £2 coins which did not normally circulate. The whole quantity of coinage in circulation is approximately three and a quarter billion pounds, of which the £1 and £2 coins account for almost two billion pounds.