Coins of the pound sterling chronologically. All genuine UK coins are produced by the Royal Mint. The same coinage is used across the United Kingdom: unlike banknotes, local issues of coins are not produced for different parts of the UK. The pound coin until 2016 was produced in regional designs, but these circulate equally in all parts of the UK (see UK designs, below). Every year, newly minted coins are checked for size, weight, and composition at a Trial of the Pyx. Essentially the same procedure has been used since the 13th century. Assaying is now done by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths on behalf
Coins of the pound sterling finally abandoned it in 1992 when smaller, more convenient, "silver" coins were introduced. All coins since the 17th century have featured a profile of the current monarch's head. The direction in which they face changes with each successive monarch, a pattern that began with the Stuarts, as shown in the table below: For the Tudors and pre-Restoration Stuarts, both left- and right-facing portrait images were minted within the reign of a single monarch (left-facing images were more common). In the Middle Ages, portrait images tended to be full face. There was a small quirk in this alternating pattern when Edward