I got my first 2005 coin in circulation yesterday. A 5p coin. Looks like they gone back to issuing them in the autumn again. Rather than in March.

Although August is still a bit early as they usually issue them around September based on past experience of change watching.

It always amazes me when I hear how late our friends in Great Britain get their current years coins in change. It begs the question, what is the mint in Llantrisant doing? Are they minting, hoarding for a while then releasing, or are they just taking a long time to get into a new years production run?

It's done upon supply and demand. It took me till last year to get info on how the system works but here goes, i think this is roughly how they do it.

I guess they figure out how many they are going to require of each denomination and they start minting them. They probably mint them simultaneously rather than one denomination at a time.

However they have regulations upon how the coins are released, i don't think 2005 coins can be released until all the 2004 ones are out. Now whether this is until all the 2004 denominations are out or until the same denomination of the previous year is fully released, e.g 2005 pennies are released when the 2004 dated ones have been issued even though the 2004 fifties might still be backlogged in the system. That i can't say for certain because i don't know.

Generally the pennies, the two pences and the five pences are the first to appear. The tens and twenties usually follow a few months later. Once they are mostly released that's when the 50p pieces enter circulation. The £1 coins and the £2 coins are kept till the last and i doubt 2005 £1 and £2 coins will be out before the new year.


In 2002 the copper coins came out in the autumn as usual and the remainder followed over the last months of 02 and into the first half of 03. However i seem to recall that the 03 copper coins began appearing in the spring of 2003 before all the 2002 upper denominations were out. 2004 must have been an equally massive mintage because they were out in February and new pennies were turning up all year.

The 2004 £1 coins weren't issued until december 2004 after the 2003 stocks of £1 coins had been diminished. It looks as if this time around they've waited till all of the denominations were out before they let any out 2005's out.

I haven't seen any pennies or two pences yet, which doesn't concern me at the moment. Should the ten pences and the twenty pences start appearing shortly will still no sign of the copper coins then it looks as if 2005 will be a skipped year for the copper with none being released. Going on the huge quantities released from 01-04 i've been expecting the mint to layoff with the copper coins for a year or two, like they did in the early 1980s.

Are you sure about this? I cannot remember definitely, but I swear I had all of the 2004 issues before November (thanks to Unknown and Geoff T). Maybe it was later than that when I got them, I don't know for sure.




I can see that happening with the 2p, but I think the 1p will be forthcoming. They haven't missed a year with them, yet. If they were to think about not minting the 1p, I imagine the speculation that they will be withdrawn may convince them otherwise.


I have been seeing the 60th Anniversary of WWII £2 pieces (St. Paul's Cathedral) on eBay with some regularity. Are these from special sets or folders, or have these already been issued?? Also, do you think both of the commemorative £2 will see circulation, or perhaps only 1, and which one - Guy Fawkes or St. Pauls?

Commemorative issues are different sometimes they come out in advance. Generally though the coins you see on ebay are often ones that have been purchased either singularly, or were often part of sets which are then broken up. I was thinking of doing something similar. Buying BU sets, breaking them up, claiming the 10p pieces for myself and disposing of the rest.

The 2004 £1 coins may have come out in November 2004, i saw a news article on it towards the end of the year saying they had just been officially released and it was rather late on. Although i can't remember the exact month.


I dare say the new issue coins do turn up on ebay earlier but i don'tr use ebay so i don't keep an eye on it. I just examine the change i get just to see if i've got a new one. I'll probably wait until i've seen the 2005 copper coins and then i'll not bother looking again until 2006.

I'm still searching for my 1st 2005 coin. I do remember 2 years ago only get my first 2003 £1 coin in October though.

As slow at the BRM is, you might actually get the forgeries in change before the real thing.

It's been known.

In fact the only round pound I have is a forgery. None of the FoF coins sent on a couple of occasions to me ever showed up.

If i find a 2004 pound in circulation anytime soon, i'll send you one.