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
Decimal Day '2p' in the UK and simply '2' in Ireland. Decimal Day On 15 February 1971, known as Decimal Day, the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalised their currencies. Under the old currency of pounds, shillings and pence, the pound was made up of 240 pence (denoted by the letter "d" for Latin "denarius" and now referred to as "old pence"), with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings (denoted by "s" for Latin "solidus") in a pound. The loss of value of the currency meant that the "old" penny, with the same diameter as the US half-dollar, had become of