A couple of days ago a new two coloured bi-metallic £1 coin with 12 sides was issued replacing the previous 25 designs of the round pound coin (or 33 if the different images of the Queen's head is included) which were introduced in 1983.   Apparently one in 30 £1 coins in circulation are counterfeit and so the new ones have improved security features.

It was designed by a schoolboy who was only 15 at the time and like the other pound coins it has patriotic designs with the Queen’s head on the back.  It features a new design that shows the English rose, the Welsh leek, the Scottish thistle and the Northern Irish shamrock emerging from one stem within a royal coronet.   The older coins shown are coins introduced in 2013 showing the rose and oak leaf symbolic of England, the leek and daffodil of Wales and the other coin issued in 2014 depicts the harebell and thistle of Scotland.  Unfortunately I don’t have a coin showing the shamrock and flax of Northern Ireland.

With the uncertainty facing the future political situation in the UK I wonder how long this design will be issued.