Decimal Day old coins were returned to the banks and in this way the bulk of them were quickly taken out of circulation. The new halfpenny, penny, and twopence coins were introduced on 15 February 1971. Within two weeks of Decimal Day, the old penny (1d) and old threepenny (3d) coins had left circulation, and old sixpences were becoming rare. On 31 August 1971, the 1d and 3d were officially withdrawn from circulation, ending the transition period. The government intended that in speech the new units would be called "new pence", but the public decided that it was clearer and quicker to
Commemorative coins of the United Kingdom the decimal era, crowns were converted to twenty-five pence. 50p and recent £2 Coins circulate normally and can be found in change. Usually about 5 million of each of these are the commemorative issue, the rest being of the standard design. Since 1982 all of these have also been produced as Sterling silver and 22 carat Gold proofs. Although the design of the £1 Coin changes every year, these are not considered to be commemoratives, as they do not mark an event or its anniversary. Twenty-five pence Non-circulated Circulated Commemorative coins of the United Kingdom Commemorative coins have been issued