British coinage

Obverse and turn around of ordinary coins in current movement, £2, £1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and 1pThe British currency was decimalized on February 15, 1971. The basic unit of currency – the Pound – was unchanged. Previous to decimalization there were 240 pennies in a pound, now there are 100 new pence. The new coins were noticeable with the wording "New Penny" or "New Pence" to discriminate them from the old. The word new was drop after ten years. The representation p was also adopted to tell apart the new pennies from the old, which used the sign d.

The initial pound coin was introduced in 1983 to replace the Bank of England £1 banknote which was discontinues in 1984. A circulating bimetallic £2 coin was also introduced in 1998– there had until that time been remembrance £2 coins which did not normally circulate. The total amount of coinage in exchange is approximately three and a quarter billion pounds, of which the £1 and £2 coins account for almost two billion pounds.

Every year, newly mint coins are checkered for size, weight, and work of art at a Trial of the Pyx. Fundamentally the same process has been used since the thirteenth century. Assay is now done by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths on behalf of HM Treasury.