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
Pound (currency) Pound (currency) The pound is a unit of currency in some nations. The term originated in the Frankish Empire as a result of Charlemagne's currency reform ("pound" from Latin "pondus", a unity of weight) and was subsequently taken to Great Britain as the value of a pound (weight) of silver. The English word "pound" is cognate with, among others, German "Pfund", Dutch "pond", and Swedish "pund". All ultimately derive from a borrowing into Proto-Germanic of the Latin expression "lībra pondō" ("a pound by weight"), in which the word "pondō" is the ablative case of the Latin noun "pondus" ("weight"). The