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 sterling in the South Atlantic and the Antarctic Islands used sterling currency as in the United Kingdom until 1899 when it began to issue its own banknotes at par with the pound sterling. In 1974, this territory also began to issue its own coinage, similar to the coinage of the United Kingdom but with different designs on the reverse. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands has a very small population, with no permanent residents. Government officials there use UK currency. Although nominally British, the British Antarctic Territory is subject to international agreements which limit British authority there and allow other countries to maintain scientific research bases there.