Meet the new one pound coin..

United Kingdom. 2017. Nations of the crown.

Silver piedfort pound. Mintage: 4000.

This coin marks the introduction of the new 12 sided design of the pound to replace the decades old round pound. The coin introduces state of the art anti counterfeiting features which included a holographic £ symbol when viewed at the angle and many other undisclosed secret marks. A significant part of the reason for the new design was due to the royal mint's estimation that almost 3% of all circulated pound coins are counterfeits. The Royal mint described the anti counterfiet features as top-secret, state of the art which requires a machine to detect. The design features the fifth portrait of the Queen and a design of four emblems of the nation's of the crown namely the English Rose, Welsh leek, Scottish thistle and Irish shamrock, design which was won by a teenager during a national competition held to select the design for this significant coin.

 

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Actually the one pound coin is already in mass circulation. Effective September or October, the original round pound is no longer legal tender

 

Haha.. Yeah.. it was quickly sold out. But you can still find a number of resellers online

 

I do enjoy the modern decimal coins. Why the choice of the piedfort?

Incidentally, here is an interesting website that records the counterfeit pounds. There are actually some interesting designs in there:
http://www.thefakepoundcoindatabase.co.uk/

Such as this fake £2 coin...

 

Piedfort silver was due to it being silver, heavier and smaller mintage. I got it when it was still on preorder by the Royal mint.

Counterfeits were so rampant that it prompted this new issue. But it is quiet interesting a design with 12 sides.

 

I wanna ask coin fans, their deep interest in proof versions.
they look beautiful, shiny and charming indeed. but there are some issues about proof coins that concern me:

1-It seems central banks and mint companies know how to get more money; more proof, more money.

2-What is the pleasure in having a coin trapped and imprisoned inside a plastic seal. The real pleasure I find in coins, is to grab it in my hand (even if sweaty lol) I wouldn't bother, as long as it quenches my desires
besides, the more the coin is rusty, scratched, circulated, and what have ya, the more genuine it looks!! proof coins sound and look very artificial and it is just a means of ripping collectors off their pockets.

3-I have no money to buy proof coins
well, even if i could afford proof, I would go for circulated coins, something that had been in the hands of Tom, Dick and Harry made a currency out of it, folks!

 

well-said
being cheap sometimes is relative. for a US or European citizen a $40 proof coin is surely cheap

but for someone from the middle east, $40 is a lot of money to pay :-/ sadly is.

I wanna ask another question, how long a proof coin would stay proof?

 

Spot on answer @lordmarcovan . I might just add that a coin regardless proof or otherwise has a higher appreciation value if they are rarer. And proofs are often rarer. Also, touching a coin is absolutely avoided for reasons as you mentioned. Not withstanding protecting coins from the elements such as tarnish, scratch, chemical reactions fro humidity or acidic sweat etc. I used to collect common circulated coins but if u think about it, they end up being on a plastic box among other junk taking space a dime by th dozen. True there might be gems in circulated coins but you have better odds at striking a lottery.

Proof doesn't always stay proof. Depending on where u stay and where u leave them, unless airtight moisture can tarnish them. But such tarnish are numimstically acceptable as the surface remains unaffected. Proofs are notoriously sensitive to touch and fingerprints sometimes appear many many years later

 

I saw the business strikes at a recent coin show. The dealer said that the mint uses proprietary "pixie dust" in the coin's manufacture. Perhaps someone here can tell us more about this pixie dust?

 

@lordmarcovan I read the article. It goes parallel to what I noticed in coin values from different countries. The article is very precise in not ignoring exceptions to the rule. A couple of weeks ago, I was purchasing some random coins from a local vendor; there was a palestinian coin within the pile of coins on tray. He tried to convince me to take it; but it was badly worn (letters wiped out). He further commented that coins from palestine are very expensive if in good shape. I thought he is bullshi**ng me till i went home and searched for coins from palestine. Surprisingly almost all palestenian items on ebay were expensive like hell. I later understood that they are very expensive because they are very rare, let alone the political background of these coins; they prove the existence of a state.for which reason local and arab collectors crave for these coins and buy them at any cost!! Here again, it seems to me "demand" is a major factor decisive of a coin value.

As for the proof coin; if i saw that indian coin before your reply, I would have thought "wtf"! It looks more circulated than most circulated coins look.

In Egypt, coin market is stagnant, because of inflation we are suffering from. This however hasn't changed yet the value of coins as they were used ro be. Paradoxically, with infation, the price of coins doubled and tripled.

How long could the country and people endure inflation and economic collapse would decide how the coun marker progress or regress. It is however in the zone of the unseen.

 

Can of worms alert!! Of course the proper answer is "None".

Third party grading, and then collecting those slabbed coins, is quite popular in the US. Here in Europe ... not really. And I don't think it is common elsewhere.

Then again, it can certainly be helpful - the grading company will not only give you its opinion about the grade of a submitted coin (i.e. how well preserved it is) but you also know that your coin is authentic. And if you consider coins to be an investment, another advantage pops up: By and large, you can - at least in the US - sell such graded pieces better ($$) and more easily.

Side note about euro collectors: We aren't really better. Even people who do not care about third party grading at all may well pay more for collector coins that still come in their original packaging.

Now people who collect current circulation coins might be more interested in the variety of themes, designs, etc. and not care that much about "micro" grading. That is especially true for collectors who would rather have one coin from each country than each and every possible year/mintmark combination of basically the same coin. The good thing is, no "camp" is better than the others here ...

Christian

 

Literally i am this type of collector. There are no better words to describe me than those you just summed up

 

Sadly here in Malaysia where I live people are obsessed with the year of the coin and pays supreme premiums over common straits settlement silvers because of a year or mintmark. Very much like American collectors. Personally I believe the money spent is better off used to procure other coins which has a more historical or numismatic significance.

 

Honestly I believe the collectors here are just collecting out of the sport of it and for speculative purposes. They do not really subscribe to the appreciation of coins for their artistic and historical value.