How many fake pound coins in circulation

The orientation of the obverse and reverse designs is not in line. Unfortunately a bank does not have to give you real coins if you try to hand them in there. The best thing to do is refuse one if someone tries to hand you one. Suggest a correction. What's Hot. Donors can see which charities are taking part in the scheme by looking for the UK Aid Match logo, featuring the Union Flag. A joke about the changeover was voted the funniest of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Ken Cheng quipped: "I'm not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change.

Pound coin gag wins funniest joke award. New pound in circulation on 28 March. Firms 'should prepare' for new pound coin. Image source, Getty Images. The nearest thing to it was the change of the fifty pence coin back in But cash was a very different world back then and the old and new coins co-existed for much longer. That means there are approximately fifty million fake coins out there. The new coin benefits from a number of security features. RBS has today committed to helping 2.

Some of them have been very good, others are very bad. But there are certainly a lot of them out there. One Independent reader, who asked for his name not to be used, said: "I seem to be getting more and more of them in my change, particularly from some shops in central and west London.

I couldn't believe it at first, but now I look at all my change closely. Identifying fake pound coins, once you know how, is easy. Each year since they were introduced in , the design on the reverse has changed. The quickest way to check whether a coin is genuine is making sure that the date and the design on the reverse match; on many fakes they do not.

Similarly, the Latin motto on the edge of the coin should also correspond to the right year. But even if the reverse is correct for the year, there may be other giveaways. On many fakes, the ribbed edge is poorly defined and the Latin lettering uneven in depth and spacing. On the front, the Queen's head may not be sufficiently proud and the stippling around the edge ill defined - both indicators of poor moulds or bad attempts at artificial ageing of coins.

The colour of fakes is also often more shiny and golden than the real thing. Some are lighter and thinner.