The new pound coin will enter circulation next month.

The 12-sided £1 coin – dubbed “the most secure of its kind in the world” – will come into circulation on March 28.

The new coin is designed to combat counterfeiters who have around 45 million counterfeit £1 coins currently in circulation.

New security features include a hologram-like image that changes from a £ symbol to the number one when the coin is seen from different angles. Businesses have been urged to prepare for its introduction.

Cash-handling firms and those that operate vending machines have been directed to a website - thenewpoundcoin.com - to help guide them through the transition as part of a campaign before the Royal Mint and the Government take the circular 30-year-old pound coin out of circulation.

You have until October 15 to spend any old £1 coins.

According to coin collecting blog Change Checker, some of the old £1 coins could be worth up to as much as £50.

They recently published a ‘Scarcity Index’ to help collectors identify the rarest £1 coins with the Edinburgh coin coming out on top.

Upgrades to machines that accept the pound coin are expected to cost millions.