Sword

Standard A reverse is shown below:

CGS /LC describes this as "1893LVI Davies Obverse 1 (T of VICTORIA points to a bead), Reverse streamer similar to Reverse A with a more levelled appearance, the date digits also closer together (listed by CGS as their variety 20 dies 1+G, unlisted elsewhere)"

I am sure the Royal Mint will continue to include the penny in year sets. It will have legal tender (but please don't spend status). Not much of a change since people hardly spend them now anyway. There will also be silver versions.

I have indeed mistaken one farthing for 0.25 new penny instead of 0.1 new penny. But I can still believe that a farthing had more purchasing power in the early 1960s (when it demonetised) than the purchasing power of a penny today. A farthing in 1960 could probably buy something like a cheap sweet, but absolutely nothing today costs as little as a penny. Gave it a check using an inflation calculator, 1 pound in 1961 is worth £22.43 today. So a farthing would be worth 2.3 pence.

The original design entry: It was then refined by the coin artist David Lawrence.

Bronze? You meant copper plated steel 😀! I would be surprised if that's not the case since the farthing has been demonetised for nearly 60 years now. "The Royal Mint had revealed 60% of 1 pence and 2 pence coins are only used once, while 8% of pennies are thrown away." This is so wasteful and it is just tradition keeping these coins alive.

Contactless payment doesn't necessarily mean a surveillance society. For examples, there are cities which use contactless stored value smart card that are anonymous. These card were originally used for transport payment but has grown to be used in convenience stores and supermarkets.

I find low denomination coins from 20p downwards fairly pointless these days. They worth little and have a habit of accumulating in the pocket or jar at home. I like contactless payment for low amounts just to avoid having to carry the weight of loose change. I would rather think it is a good idea to scrap the 5p, 2p, 1p coins.

£1 reverse. It was quite well advertised at the time that a 15 year boy's won the competition and we had a tread talking about it.

Let me guess, "How many different portraits of the Queen have appeared on UK coins?" 😀

I got to say the buyer was gutsy (or more likely just very rich) to pay a million for it considering it only sold for £516,000 in 2014.

Absolutely. If the Royal Mint can't be bothered with a design, then simply the words "Commemoration of Brexit" would be far more direct and unpretentious. It has been reported that they have all been melted down but I think it is rather likely that a few examples have been saved. I wouldn't be surprised if the odd examples will make it to auctions later on. The 1945 silver 3d comes to mind. Indeed. A £2 would be more appropriate. I still think some crown-size pieces would be nice if they can come up with a decent design.

One of the must have 2020 coin must be the Brexit 50p. Am I alone in thinking that the proposed design is just exceedingly poor. "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations" is just some sort of incredibly lame and meaningless sentence. Surely, the Royal Mint could have produced a "British" design that is tasteful, encouraging and can be admired by both Brexiteers and former Remainers, Remainers etc. They really should leave out the date as well - that's not necessary in my view. My top choice would be a detailed engraving of the Parliament and the Thames. Something looking like: A crown size piece is needed to do it justice. One of my regrets is that we never made a cityscape coin. This would be the ideal time to make one. I did also thought about the merits of bringing back a classical design like the Gothic crown reverse. However, it is important to look forward and not back and so I think we should do something new. Any ideas on a design? (Let's not get heated discussions on the pros and cons of Brexit since it is definitely going to happen later in the month. And no more shooting in the foot design since we had seen them already. 😃 )

And considerably better struck than even a top currency I think.

I have some interest in silverware and am aware that it is not uncommon for silver pieces to lose value because the hallmarks have been blurred due to excessive polishing. The advice "be careful when polishing around hallmarks" is frequently given.