The Royal Mint have admitted that thousands of new £1 coins in circulation have major flaws.
Due to the rapid rate of production, they said that a “small number of coins” were affected.
“The Royal Mint produces around five billion coins each year, and will be striking 1.5 billion new £1 coins in total.” said a spokeswoman for the Royal Mint.
“As you would expect, we have tight quality controls in place, however, variances will always occur in a small number of coins, particularly in the striking process, due to the high volumes and speed of production.”
These faulty coins will be highly collectable due to the tiny proportion of them in circulation.
“The thing about the Royal Mint is that they are very, very good with their quality control, so therefore if you have something that has passed through without being quality checked then it is likely to be collectable, it is likely to, therefore, be worth more than one pound,” said Philip Munsell, director of Coin News magazine.
The new pound coins were created to replace the increasingly vulnerable old pound coins, about one in 30 of which are fake.
The new coin has been described as the most secure in the world, with a range of new security features. The new material inside the coin can be detected when electronically scanned by coin-counting or payment machines. Other security measures include a hologram-like image and micro-sized lettering inside both rims.
The old pound coin will no longer be able to be used in shops from October 15. From then, you can get them changed at the Post Office for the new coin.
The Royal Mint would “encourage you to use your coins or return them to your bank” before this date.
According to a survey by Mastercard, there is £1.1 billion worth of the old style coins in people’s homes, however, the vast majority are not aware that they need to be changed.