New British £1 Coin Designed with Cutting Edge Security Features

The British Royal Mint has just released a new 12-sided £1 coin designed to combat counterfeiters and to replace an estimated 45 million fake coins currently in circulation. The new features of the anti-forgery coin include a “12-sided bimetallic design, a hologram, and fine lettering,” according to Bloomberg. The coin also includes some secret features not disclosed to the public.

Here’s a video discussing the security features, design along with a breakdown of each:

Technical Specs

• Weight: 8.75g
• Thickness: 2.8mm
• Diameter: 23.43mm

Security Features

• Bimetallic Design. The coin’s two-metal design mixes a gold-colored, nickel-brass outer covering with an inner circle of silver-colored, nickel-plated metal.
• Similar to the lenticular printing process that overlays two images, the new coin contains a latent image that changes from the £ symbol to the number 1 when viewed from different angles.
• Micro-lettering. Tiny letters denoting “ONE POUND” and the production year are engraved on the borders of both the obverse (former) and reverse (latter) sides of the coin.
• Milled Edges. Alternating milling is included in 6 of the 12 sides in a design going back to Sir Isaac Newton when he was Master of the Mint in 1699. Side milling or “reeding” was developed to counteract the act of “coin clipping”, whereby counterfeiters would shave off the sides of a coin and collect the precious metal.
• Hidden Security Feature. Although not revealed, the design also includes a hidden security feature designed to keep it secure even when future forgery techniques are developed.

Another design feature that stands out, not for its ingenuity but for its irony, is the reverse side’s image of the English Rose, the Welsh Leek, the Scottish Thistle, and the Irish Shamrock all emerging from a royal coronet. The design is meant to inspire a sense of national unity under the British Monarchy—an idea that’s come under intense scrutiny from both Scotland and Ireland whose parliaments have both voted referendums against Britain’s decision to Brexit from the European Union.

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