back to article Blighty starts pumping out 12-sided quids

The Royal Mint has begun pumping out the fetching 12-sided pound coins which will hit the UK's streets in March next year. The retro-styled nugget - which pays homage to the classic threepenny bit - is rolling off the production line at the rate of 4,000 a minute. It's heralded as "the world’s most secure coin in circulation …

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  1. Paratrooping Parrot
    Facepalm

    Today????

    Really??? Why is the coin dated 2014?

    1. LesB

      Re: Today????

      The images are the same ones used when the new coin was announced in 2014...

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/19/new_pound_coin_12_sides_threepenny/

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Today????

        ..and why must every announcement from the UK always say "Britain leading the world, world's best, world leading, world's most...."

        Often it's clearly not true and often it turns into a fiasco.... why not just say, in this case, "with greatly improved security" or "with a cunning system designed to reduce counterfeiting".

        Oh well, let's hope this one turns out OK.

        1. Roq D. Kasba

          Re: Today????

          Turns out we're actually pretty good at coins though, and the anticounterfit technology is being appraised by other countries - so may be a genuine export area.

          1. Pedigree-Pete
            Pint

            Re: Today????

            The guys who print £ UK sterling paper currency also print for many foreign currencies so we're already pretty good at "exporting". Good job Kent(?). PP

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Today????

              Turns out we're actually pretty good at coins though

              I've always thought we were pretty good at thrupenny bits.

              1. cortland

                Re: Today????

                I was just a lad when Dad was stationed in Wiltshire with the USAF, but I remember the three-penny bits.

                And I wonder, too. Is this a bow to truth in advertising? Given inflation,mightn't the Pound be now worth what thruppence was then?

                Scary thought.

                1. Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

                  Re: Today????

                  "Given inflation,mightn't the Pound be now worth what thruppence was then?"

                  Not exactly, but close enough. 80 thruppences = one decimal pound by 1971 decimal conversion. By consumer price indexes there has been roughly 1:40 price increase between 1946 and 2015.

                  So one 1946 thruppence would be worth half a quid these days . For 1:80 CPI ratio we have to go back to 1916.

        2. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: Today????

          .and why must every announcement from the UK always say

          "every" ?

          You make a point about hyperbole and use the word "every" ?

        3. The bigger, blacker box.

          Re: Today????

          Actually the UK mints coins for many other countries, and is actually largest exporter of minted foreign currency in the world - it's been doing it for centuries.

          There's a few unusual "accidents" whereby a coin has had two different countries sides when dies have been mixed up (known as a mule), not as common as something like the undated 20p, and much easier to spot than the very rare 1970 halfpenny with the early obverse but usually rare enough to suspect it wasn't completely accidental.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lester, old boy, you're slipping - you passed up the perfect opportunity to (re)use the word 'dodecaquid'

    For shame ;-)

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Ah, but wait...

      "The shiny new pound has been well received, apart from predictable grumblings from vending machine manufacturers about the cost of converting their kit to accept the dodecaquid."

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ha!

    April Fool!

    1. cbars Bronze badge

      Re: Ha!

      Nah. I doubt .gov is collaborating with theregister.

      Follow the links in the article. .gov post is from yesterday (March 31)

    2. Danny 14

      Re: Ha!

      nah, its just gyspy coin clipping.

  4. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Coat

    iSIS

    O'reilly ?

    1. Tom Wood

      Re: iSIS

      They actually seem to have quietly dropped that name since 2014 - the link from the article redirects to a different page. Can't think why.

      The potential security features are intriguing though. Could the coins, rather than being just a lump of metal, actually contain some kind of chip?

      1. Tom Wood

        Re: iSIS

        http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/royal-mint-forced-change-name-7657745

      2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

        Re: iSIS

        "They actually seem to have quietly dropped that name since 2014 ... "

        Yep. After a couple of Predator drones started to circle the mint.

        Target selection by algorithm isn't quite perfected yet.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: iSIS

        Most coins have basic "counterfeit" measures, even the humble £1 coin as it is.

        http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/counterfeit-one-pound-coins

        Same as notes, most people know about the ribbon, but ask them about folding up the note and the actual denomination hologram and they will be baffled.

      4. Mike Moyle

        Re: iSIS

        "Could the coins, rather than being just a lump of metal, actually contain some kind of chip?"

        They've chipped Her Maj? My, your Royals certainly don't get the respect they used to!

        1. James O'Shea
          Childcatcher

          Re: iSIS

          "They've chipped Her Maj? My, your Royals certainly don't get the respect they used to!"

          She's a valuable tourist attraction, easily worth her weight in gold. Gotta keep track of where she goes in case she gets lost or stolen or something.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iSIS

      That's how you get ants.

  5. DaveyDaveDave

    April Fool

    "ground-breaking technology, developed in Wales"

    -- brilliant :)

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. channel extended
      Paris Hilton

      Re: April Fool

      Isn't ground breaking technology usually call a shovel?

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: April Fool

        >Isn't ground breaking technology usually call a shovel?

        I'd call it a spade. A shovel is used for, er, shovelling material that is already loose like sand, snow or gravel, whereas a spade will cut into mud, clay, turf and the like.

        Harder substrates - rocks - will call for picks, bars, explosives and other handy tools.

        1. bep

          Re: April Fool

          Mattocks!

          1. Fraggle850

            Re: April Fool

            Hoe

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Parking and Vending Machines

    Why don't they use it as an excuse to retrofit them all with contactless technology and largely do away with coins? I'm sick and tired of having to have the right cash in hand to park at hospitals or stations...

    And given that even 8 year old kids can get their hands on contactless cards, I don't buy that they're not ubiquitous enough. Fitting contactless to most parking meters would probably mean they need to be emptied an order of magnitude less often, which would surely pay for itself anyway.

    In fact, if kids could only use contactless cards on vending machines, that would be a bonus - I frittered away so much money on crap from vending machines when I was a kid that my parents were clueless about - if I'd had to use a contactless card which reported back to my parents everything I was spending, I'd have been far healthier and more careful with my money...

    1. SundogUK Silver badge

      Re: Parking and Vending Machines

      if I'd had to use a contactless card which reported back to THE GOVERNMENT everything I was spending, I'd have been far healthier and more careful with my money...

      FIFY.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Parking and Vending Machines

        Take the tinfoil hat off you tosspot...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Parking and Vending Machines

          Take the Anonymous Coward mask off you tosspot...

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Parking and Vending Machines

              @Symon No, my real name is Mike. I'm going to guess that yours is probably Simon.

          2. Mpeler
            Gimp

            Re: Parking and Vending Machines - take the AC mask off

            He was embarrassed - his name is Pizzpot Gargravarr...

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Uplink

        Re: Parking and Vending Machines

        I think it can work. I used substitution: "It doesn't exist everywhere enough" and it seems to work. It's a measure of density per unit of everywhere.

        1. Mpeler

          Re: Parking and Vending Machines

          But how much is that in millwales?

      2. Mpeler
        Holmes

        Re: Parking and Vending Machines

        Don't worry, some advertising agency will come up with a campaign touting their ubiquitouser uniquenessess...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Parking and Vending Machines

      "parents everything I was spending, I'd have been far healthier and more careful with my money..."

      Or by wasting money on crap, you learn responsibility, without having to rely on you parents to do it for you.

    4. ad47uk

      Re: Parking and Vending Machines

      Why not use both? Not all of us like contactless, I stay well clear of it.

      1. Mpeler
        Coat

        Re: Parking and Vending Machines

        Contactless - takes the worry out of being close (cf. 1970s commercial).

        Also works for social media...

    5. John Sturdy

      Re: Parking and Vending Machines

      Because it would have to be online, which requires either installing a wired connection, or paying for mobile data?

      Plus the privacy concerns, of course, as raised by others.

    6. Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

      Re: Parking and Vending Machines

      I don't mind electronic payment for parking.

      I use multiple systems. But I don't have a contactless card...

  7. Yugguy

    Produced in 2016

    Finally accepted by your local council car park in 2026.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Produced in 2016

      In the meantime, all the parking machines get blocked up with the new coins giving the users the excuse not to pay the truly outrageous fees that many conncils use these days.

      and in other news

      Businesses in the high st report an upturn in trade that coindsides with the problems with the parking machines.

      Cause and effect?

  8. frank ly

    But, but

    Old people like me might confuse them with thrup'ny bits and be cheated by unscrupulous people. I don't like this modern world.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      But on the bright side...

      Every time you're paying you can break into reminiscences about thrupnee bits and how that was a lot of pocket money back then and how many sherbet gollywogs it would have bought and how ride the young people in the ever-lengthening queue behind you are...

      1. Bloakey1

        Re: But on the bright side...

        As far as I know, if thrupenny bits are on display then ISIS will sureley ensure that they are out of circulation.

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