One Pence Coins

The British decimal one penny (1p) coin, produced by the Royal Mint, was issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised . In practice, it had been available from banks in bags of £1 for some weeks previously. The coin, known at first as a "new penny", was initially minted from bronze, but since 1992 it has been minted in copper -plated steel. As this is less dense than bronze, post-1992 coins have been slightly thicker, as well as becoming magnetic. The coin weighs 3.56 grams (approximately one eighth of an ounce and has a diameter of 20.32 millimetres.

The penny is one hundredth fraction of a pound: one hundred pence sterling is one pound sterling.

One penny and two pence coins are legal tender only up to the sum of 20p; this means that it is permissible to refuse payment of sums greater than this amount in 1p and 2p coins in order to settle a debt.

As of March 2008 there were an estimated 10,900 million 1p coins in circulation.

Soaring copper prices in the mid-2000s caused the value of the copper in the pre-1992 coins (which are 97% copper) to exceed the coins' face value. For example, in May 2006, the intrinsic metal value of a pre-1992 1p coin was about 1.5 pence.During 2008, the value of copper fell dramatically from these peaks