COINS and notes are set to get a major makeover following the death of the Queen.
King Charles III has replaced her on the currency – but both portraits will stay in circulation for some time yet.
The Royal Mint and Bank of England which produce coins and notes have said that they will co-circulate at the same time.
All currency for the past 70 years has featured Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen reigned from 1952, so most Brits will have only ever had her face lining their wallets, on coins, notes and more.
Coins bearing the effigy of the King have already entered circulation.
They will circulate alongside coins featuring the Queen “for many years to come” the Royal Mint said.
When will King Charles III’s face appear on coins and notes?
Bank notes featuring the new monarch entered circulation on June 5, 2024.
Notes featuring the Queen’s portrait already made will still be put into circulation.
New notes will only be printed to replace worn banknotes and to meet any overall increase in demand for banknotes.
This is to reduce the environmental impact and save on costs.
On all current coins the Queen’s portrait faces the right, but Charles looks to the left because of a tradition that means the way the monarch faces must change with each new successor.
The most recent image of the Queen on coins is the fifth portrait, designed by Jody Clark.
It was issued in 2015 and shows a side profile of the Queen wearing a crown and drop earrings.
It features on £1 coins, £2 coins, 50ps, and 20ps, all the way down to copper pennies.
Meanwhile, on British notes, a similar image of the Queen has been in place since the 90s.
New coins and notes were made when the Queen’s father George VI, the former King of England, passed too.
When will coins and notes with the Queen’s face on end?
The current circulating designs will be discontinued and a new design that represents the new head of state will replace them.
But it won’t all happen straight away.
Any coins or notes you have on you now will still be legal tender for a while yet.
We don’t know exactly when each design will be removed from circulation.
There are around 27 billion coins currently circulating in the UK bearing the effigy of the Queen.
These will be replaced over time as they become damaged or worn, and to meet demand for additional coins.
When the Queen came to power though, coins with her father’s image stayed in circulation for almost 20 years after his death.
But they were removed when decimalisation was introduced in 1971.
Production of coins won’t abruptly stop either.
The Royal Mint manufactures between three million and four million coins a day, and it’s likely to continue with the production of the current portrait and design until the end of the year at least.
That means we won’t see any new styles crop up in change until 2024. The same goes for notes.
Notes went through a major style change when they changed from paper to plastic – and the slow process means some paper copies are still legal tender even now.
But bank notes are updated approximately every 15 years anyway, so it won’t be long before current designs disappear altogether.
What kind of value will current coins and notes hold?
As the currency with the Queen on will eventually cease to be produced altogether, they’ll be harder to come across.
That means collectors will be more desperate to snap up copies as they become rarer over time, with the new designs taking the lead in popularity and production.
Rarer coins and notes are often more valuable, and can sometimes sell for hundreds of pounds more than face value at auction – if the right bidder is interested.
What are the most rare and valuable coins?
- Five rarest coins – do you have one?
- The 13 most valuable £2 coins in circulation
- How valuable are the rarest £1 coins?
- Most rare and valuable 50p coins in circulation
- Rare and most valuable 20p coins that could be worth up to £750
- Rarest 10p coins in circulation
- Rare 2p coins revealed
- How to check if you have a rare and valuable banknote
Does it affect anyone outside the UK?
During her reign, the Queen was head of the Commonwealth, so that meant her portrait was used on plenty of other countries’ currency too.
The Queen appears on the Canadian $20 bill for example, as well as on the Australian dollar coin.
Now that Charles has taken over, these designs will also have to change just like coins and notes on our side of the pond.
According to The Coin Expert this will take longer than it will in this country though.
That’s because it is easier to enforce a new design in the country it originates from rather than elsewhere, where other rules may get in the way.
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