Coins of the pound sterling coins' designs. As of 31 March 2016, there were an estimated 30.14 billion coins circulating in the United Kingdom. The first decimal coins were circulated in 1968. These were the five pence (5p) and ten pence (10p), and had values of one shilling (1/-) and two shillings (2/-), respectively, under the pre-decimal £sd system. The decimal coins are minted in copper-plated steel (previously bronze), nickel-plated steel, cupronickel and nickel-brass. The two-pound coins, and, as from 28 March 2017 the new one-pound coins, are bimetallic. The coins are discs, except for the twenty pence and fifty pence pieces, both of which
British currency in the Middle East Bank of Egypt issued banknotes for the first time on 3 April 1899. The Central Bank of Egypt and the National Bank of Egypt were unified into the Central Bank of Egypt in 1961. A year later, in 1962, the Egyptian pound ceased to be pegged to the British pound and was tied to the United States dollar instead. Following the institution of the British Mandate for Palestine in 1918, the Egyptian pound was introduced into the area that became known as Palestine, and circulated alongside the "Ottoman lira" until 1927. With the establishment of the Currency Board for Palestine