The New UK £1 Coin, Designed By A Teenager, Is Revealed

The following is a release from the The Royal Mint

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt. Hon George Osborne has this morning revealed the winning design for the new £1 coin following the public design competition launched in September 2014. The final design, which will feature as the definitive reverse of the coin - the 'tails' side - is based on a design submitted by fifteen-year-old David Pearce from Walsall.



It was in George Osborne's Budget speech last year, on 19 March 2014, that the nation had the first glimpse of a prototype for the new 12-sided £1 coin, as the Chancellor revealed that HM Treasury believed there was a compelling case for introducing a new £1 coin.

Entrants were asked to create a design which symbolized the United Kingdom and entries included cups of tea, flags, maps, the weather, famous writers, seaside piers, and even the Rolling Stones motif.

It was fifteen-year-old David Pearce's floral concept that was selected as the favorite from some 6,000 entries. The final design features four emblems to represent each of the nations of the United Kingdom - the rose for England, the leek for Wales, the thistle for Scotland, and the shamrock for Northern Ireland - emerging from a single stem within a crown. These emblems have long been used to represent each of the nations, and have featured on UK coins as recently as 2013/14 on four floral £1 coin designs.

David Pearce's design has been refined for use on the final coin with the support of the renowned numismatic artist David Lawrence - who designed the 2015 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo UK £5 coin - and lettering expert Stephen Raw - who also advised Jody Clark on the lettering for his fifth Royal portrait design.

The new £1 coin is expected to enter circulation during 2017. For more information, visit The Royal Mint website.