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.
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