1989 One Pound Coin – Thistle

Queen Elizabeth II was the longest reigning British Monarch ever, reigning for over 70 years. Born on 21 April 1926 to King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, she became Queen in 1952 and her Coronation was on 2 June 1953. She died on 8 September 2022. Some coins were released dated 2023.

Queen Elizabeth II issued many coins and was monarch during decimalisation. She married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 and had four children. Her eldest son succeeded the throne as King Charles III. House of Windsor.

The main currency of the UK, the GBP £1 coin replaced the previous £1 banknote in April 1983.

The 1989 One Pound Coin - Thistle (a British one pound (£1) coin) is a denomination of the pound sterling. The Obverse bears the Latin engraving "Dei Gratia Regina" meaning, "By the grace of God, Queen" and FD meaning "Defender of the Faith."

It featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II when the coin was introduction on 21 April 1983. Four different portraits of the Queen were used:

• 1983-1984, Elizabeth II by Arnold Machin
• 1985-1997, Elizabeth II by Raphael Maklouf
• 1998-2015, Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley
• 2015-2023, Elizabeth II by Jody Clark
• 2023 to date, Charles III by Martin Jennings

In addition to the standard reverse, one or two new designs may be minted each year.

The coin replaced the Bank of England £1 note, which ceased to be issued at the end of 1984 and was removed from circulation on 11 March 1988, though still redeemable at the Bank's offices, like all English banknotes. One-pound notes continue to be issued in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, and by the Royal Bank of Scotland, but the pound coin is much more widely used.

The round coin is made in Nickel-brass (70% Cu, 24.5% Zn, and 5.5% Ni). Most years there has been a variant as silver, piedfort silver, gold and sometimes platinum.

At 31 March 2016 it was estimated that there were 1,671,328,000 pound coins in circulation. The Royal Mint estimated in 2014 that 3.04% (about 47 million) were counterfeit and mainly because of this it was decided to change the design. Note that even some of the uncirculated coins have been counterfeited so this is still a problem for collectors.

Most one pound coins have an edge inscription, although sometimes this has been replaced with incuse patterns. The common inscriptions are:

Edge Inscription	Translation/etymology
DECUS ET TUTAMEN	'An ornament and a safeguard' from Virgil's Aeneid
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT	'No one provokes me with impunity'. The Motto of the Order of the Thistle
PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD	'True am I to my country' from the Welsh National Anthem
PRO TANTO QUID RETRIBUAMUS	'What shall we give in return for so much.' The Motto of Belfast
DOMINE DIRIGE NOS	'Lord direct us.' The Motto of London
Y DDRAIG GOCH DDYRY CYCHWYN	‘The Red Dragon shall lead’ The Motto of Cardiff
NISI DOMINUS FRUSTRA	‘It is vain without the Lord’ The Motto of Edinburgh

Production

The final 'round' coins were minted in December 2015. Their replacement, a new 12-sided design, was introduced from 28 March 2017 onwards. It is of a similar 12-sided shape to the pre-decimal brass threepence coin, is roughly the same size as the round £1 coin and is bimetallic like the current £2 coin. The new design was intended to make counterfeiting more difficult, via an undisclosed hidden security feature, called 'iSIS' (Integrated Secure Identification Systems).

To reach the initial production of 1.5 billion pound coins to replace the exsiting coins the Royal Mint used ten presses 24×7 making 140,000 coins per hour. It takes a long time to restock the entire country and that’s why the new coins were dated 2016 and 2017 despite not being legal tender until March 2017. 

The old round one pound coin ceased to be legal tender on 15 October 2017.The Royal Mint is the designated place for the UK to mint coins. It dates back well over 1000 years and is a Government-owned company. 

Formed in the reign of Alfred the Great about the year 886, during the period 1279-1812 it was generally referred to as The Tower Mint as it was housed at the Tower of London. The Master of The Royal Mint has included famous figures such as Sir Isaac Newton.

Since 2010 it has operated as Royal Mint Ltd, a company owned by HM Treasury, under an exclusive contract to supply all coinage for the UK although it also produces medals and coins for other countries. It is currently located at Llantrisant, Wales.
The United Kingdom (UK) is the Union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is often refered to as Great Britain (GBR). It has a long, rich history.

The orignal coinage was Pounds, Shillings and Pence but since decimalisation on 15 February 1971, it is £1 = 100p, that is One Pound = 100 pence. The coinage of the UK is also a long history, the Royal Mint being established as long ago as 886AD when coins were hammered. Today there is perhaps 30 billion coins in circulation, and many (numismatic) collectors coins and sets are issued frequently in gold, silver and other metals.