The UK is to get a new 12-sided £1 coin to replace the current coin which has been in circulation for over 30 years.
It will not be the first that the country has had: there was a 12-sided threepenny coin in the pre-decimal years, going out of circulation in 1971.
Two different coloured metals will be used in the coin, which will enter circulation in 2017. According to the companies which traditionally handle coins in change machines and money processors, the new shape will not offer any particular problems.
It will be, says the Royal Mint, “the most secure coin in the world,” a coin to beat the counterfeiters, which will be good as currently the UK has about 45 million fakes in circulation.
