From the London Independent. Found this sitting in my draft folder, but I should have posted it ages ago.

The first thought that popped into my head when I saw this was… will this new twelve-sided £1 coin work in vending machines without the machines needing a tweak? And is it the same diameter as the current coin? The second thing was surprise at the reported number of counterfeit coins in circulation and how many are pulled from the currency stream. Three percent? Really? Holy cow!

As to what is punched onto the reverse, my vote would be for a range of images similar to the new designs slated for the American quarter-dollars of national parks and other places. The edges of the pound coins are already stamped with different blurbs related to the four parts of the UK, so that base has already been covered. Just a thought.

I don’t usually bother emptying my pockets of foreign currency when I reach the end of my trip/s because I always assume “I’ll be back”. This meant I got stuck with some old French francs, though I can supposedly still exchange my Belgian and Dutch notes for euros if I go to the main central bank offices in Brussels or Amsterdam. Hmmm – that might be worth trying soon.