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Ten pence (British coin) facts for kids

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Ten pence
United Kingdom
Value £0.10
Mass (1968–1992) 11.31 g
(1992–present) 6.5 g
Diameter (1968–1992) 28.5 mm
(1992–present) 24.5 mm
Thickness (Cupro-nickel) 1.85 mm
(Steel) 2.05 mm
Edge Milled
Composition Cupro-nickel (1971–2012)
Nickel-plated steel (2012–)
Years of minting 1968–present
Obverse
British 10 pence coin obverse 2016.png
Design Queen Elizabeth II
Designer Jody Clark
Design date 2015
Reverse
British ten pence coin 2015 reverse.png
Design Segment of the Royal Shield
Designer Matthew Dent
Design date 2008

The British decimal ten pence coin (often shortened to 10p in writing and speech) is a denomination of sterling coinage worth 110 of a pound. Its obverse has featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II since the coin's introduction in 1968, to replace the florin (two shilling) coin in preparation for decimalisation in 1971. It remained the same size as the florin coin (which also remained legal tender) until a smaller version was introduced 30 September 1992, with the older coins being withdrawn on 30 June 1993. Four different portraits of the Queen have been used on the coin; the latest design by Jody Clark was introduced in 2015. The second and current reverse, featuring a segment of the Royal Shield, was introduced in 2008.

The ten pence coin was originally minted from cupro-nickel (75% Cu, 25% Ni), but since 2012 it has been minted in nickel-plated steel due to the increasing price of metal. From January 2013 the Royal Mint began a programme to gradually remove the previous cupro-nickel coins from circulation and replace them with the nickel-plated steel versions.

As of March 2014 there were an estimated 1,631 million 10p coins in circulation, with an estimated face value of £163.08 million.

10p coins are legal tender for amounts up to the sum of £5 when offered in repayment of a debt; however, the coin's legal tender status is not normally relevant for everyday transactions.

Design

Obverse

To date, four different obverses have been used. In all cases, the inscription until 2015 was ELIZABETH II D.G.REG.F.D., followed by the year of minting. In the original design both sides of the coin are encircled by dots, a common feature on coins, known as beading.

As with all new decimal currency, until 1984 the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Arnold Machin appeared on the obverse, in which the Queen wears the 'Girls of Great Britain and Ireland' Tiara.

Between 1985 and 1997 the portrait by Raphael Maklouf was used, in which the Queen wears the George IV State Diadem.

On 30 September 1992 a reduced-size version of the 10 pence coin was introduced. The older and larger version of the coin was withdrawn from circulation on 30 June 1993. The design remained unchanged.

From 1998 to 2015 the portrait by Ian Rank-Broadley was used, again featuring the tiara, with a signature-mark IRB below the portrait.

As of June 2015, coins bearing the portrait by Jody Clark have been seen in circulation.

Reverse

British ten pence coin 1992 reverse
Reverse: 1982–2008

Original Reverse Design

The original reverse of the coin, designed by Christopher Ironside, and used from 1968 to 2008, is a crowned lion (formally, Part of the crest of England, a lion passant guardant royally crowned), with the numeral "10" below the lion, and either NEW PENCE (1968–1981) or TEN PENCE (1982–2008) above the lion.

Royal Shield Design

In August 2005 the Royal Mint launched a competition to find new reverse designs for all circulating coins apart from the £2 coin. The winner, announced in April 2008, was Matthew Dent, whose designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from mid-2008. The designs for the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins depict sections of the Royal Shield that form the whole shield when placed together. The shield in its entirety was featured on the now-obsolete round £1 coin. The 10p coin depicts part of the first quarter of the shield, showing two of the lions passant from the Royal Banner of England, with the words TEN PENCE above the shield design. The coin's obverse remains largely unchanged, but the beading (the ring of dots around the coin's circumference), which no longer features on the coin's reverse, has also been removed from the obverse.

A to Z Design (Great British Coin Hunt)

In March 2018, new designs were released, one for each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Anne Jessopp, chief executive of the Royal Mint, described the designs as "iconic themes that are quintessentially British". The A to Z coins were confirmed to have individual mintage figures of 220,000 on 14 October 2019 - a total of 5,720,000 for all 26.

Status as legal tender

10p coins are legal tender for amounts up to and including £5. However, in the UK, "legal tender" has a very specific and narrow meaning which relates only to the repayment of debt to a creditor, not to everyday shopping or other transactions. Specifically, coins of particular denominations are said to be "legal tender" when a creditor must by law accept them in redemption of a debt. The term does not mean - as is often thought - that a shopkeeper has to accept a particular type of currency in payment. A shopkeeper is under no obligation to accept any specific type of payment, whether legal tender or not; conversely they have the discretion to accept any payment type they wish.

Mintages

Number of ten pence coins minted for circulation by year
Year Number minted Composition Diameter (mm) Portrait Reverse
1968 336,143,250 Cupro-nickel 28.5 Machin Ironside
1969 314,008,000
1970 133,571,000
1971 63,205,000
1972 0
1973 152,174,000
1974 92,741,000
1975 181,559,000
1976 228,220,000
1977 59,323,000
1978 0
1979 115,457,000
1980 88,650,000
1981 3,487,000
1982 0
1983 0
1984 0
1985 0 Maklouf
1986 0
1987 0
1988 0
1989 0
1990 0
1991 0
1992 1,413,455,170 24.5
1993 0
1994 0
1995 43,259,000
1996 118,738,000
1997 99,196,000
1998 0 Rank-Broadley
1999 0
2000 134,733,000
2001 129,281,000
2002 80,934,000
2003 88,118,000
2004 99,602,000
2005 69,604,000
2006 118,803,000
2007 72,720,000
2008 9,720,000
2008 71,447,000 Dent
2009 84,360,000
2010 96,600,500
2011 59,603,850
2012 11,600,030 Nickel-plated steel
2013 320,200,750
2014 490,202,020
2015 119,000,000
91,900,000 Clark
2016 135,380,000
2017 33,300,000
2018 0 Dent
5,720,000 A to Z
2019 0 Dent
2,100,000 A to Z
2020 45,347,846 Dent
2021 71,200,000
2022 38,000,000
Number of ten pence "A to Z" design coins minted for circulation by year
Year Letter Description Number minted
2018 A Angel of the North 220,000
B Bond..James Bond 220,000
C Cricket 220,000
D Double Decker Bus 220,000
E English Breakfast 220,000
F Fish and Chips 220,000
G Greenwich Mean Time 220,000
H Houses of Parliament 220,000
I Ice Cream Cone 220,000
J Jubilee 220,000
K King Arthur 220,000
L Loch Ness Monster 220,000
M Mackintosh 220,000
N NHS 220,000
O Oak Tree 220,000
P Postbox 220,000
Q Queuing 220,000
R Robin 220,000
S Stonehenge 220,000
T Tea 220,000
U Union Flag 220,000
V Villages 220,000
W World Wide Web 220,000
X X Marks The Spot 220,000
Y Yeoman Warder 220,000
Z Zebra Crossing 220,000
2019 A Angel of the North 84,000
B Bond..James Bond 84,000
C Cricket 84,000
D Double Decker Bus 84,000
E English Breakfast 84,000
F Fish and Chips 84,000
G Greenwich Mean Time 84,000
H Houses of Parliament 84,000
I Ice Cream Cone 84,000
J Jubilee 84,000
K King Arthur 84,000
L Loch Ness Monster 84,000
M Mackintosh 84,000
N NHS 84,000
O Oak Tree 84,000
P Postbox 84,000
Q Queuing 83,000
R Robin 64,000
S Stonehenge 84,000
T Tea 84,000
U Union Flag 84,000
V Villages 84,000
W World Wide Web 63,000
X X Marks The Spot 84,000
Y Yeoman Warder 63,000
Z Zebra Crossing 63,000

Mint Sets have been produced since 1982; where mintages on or after that date indicate 'none', there are examples contained within those sets.

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