Ten pence (British coin)

The British decimal ten pence coin (often shortened to 10p in writing and speech) is a denomination of sterling coinage worth of a pound. Its obverse has featured the profile of the British monarch 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 (which also remained legal tender) until a smaller version was introduced on 30 September 1992, with the older coins and the pre-decimal florin being withdrawn on 30 June 1993.

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 cupro-nickel coins from circulation and replace them with the nickel-plated steel versions.

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

Ten pence 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

During Queen Elizabeth II's reign, four different obverses were used. The inscription until 2015 was , 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 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, 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 <small>TEN PENCE</small> 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 5.72 million for all 26.

A – Angel of the North
B – Bond... James Bond
C – Cricket
D – Double-decker bus
E – English breakfast
F – Fish and chips
G – Greenwich Mean Time
H – Houses of Parliament
I – Ice cream
J – Jubilee
K – King Arthur
L – Loch Ness Monster
M – Mackintosh
N – NHS
O – Oak tree
P – Post box
Q – Queuing
R – Robin
S – Stonehenge
T – Tea
U – Union Flag
V – Village
W – World Wide Web
X – X marks the spot
Y – Yeoman Warder
Z – Zebra crossing

King Charles III definitive design

In October 2023 the King Charles III ten-pence coin was presented; the coin features a capercaillie.

Mintages

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;"

|+Number of ten pence coins minted for circulation by year

! Year

! Number minted

! Composition

! Diameter (mm)

! Portrait

! Reverse

| 1968 || 336,143,250|| rowspan="45" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Cupro-nickel || rowspan="24" style="vertical-align: top;" | || rowspan="17" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Machin || rowspan="41" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | 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 || rowspan="13" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Maklouf

| 1986 || 0

| 1987 || 0

| 1988 || 0

| 1989 || 0

| 1990 || 0

| 1991 || 0

| 1992 || 1,413,455,170|| rowspan="36" style="vertical-align: top;" | 24.5

| 1993 || 0

| 1994 || 0

| 1995 || 43,259,000

| 1996 || 118,738,000

| 1997 || 99,196,000

| 1998 || 0|| rowspan="19" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | 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|| rowspan="11" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Dent

| 2009 || 84,360,000

| 2010 || 96,600,500

| 2011 || 59,603,850

| 2012 || 11,600,030|| rowspan="15" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Nickel-plated steel

| 2013 || 320,200,750

| 2014 || 490,202,020

| rowspan="2" | 2015 || 119,000,000

| 91,900,000

| rowspan="10" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Clark

| 2016 || 135,380,000

| 2017 || 33,300,000

| rowspan="2" | 2018 || 0|| style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Dent

| 5,720,000

| style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | A to Z

| rowspan="2" | 2019 || 0|| style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Dent

| 2,100,000

| style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | A to Z

| 2020 || 45,347,846|| rowspan="3" style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" | Dent

| 2021 || 71,200,000

| 2022 || 38,000,000

| 2023 || 600,000||style="text-align:left; vertical-align: top;" |Jennings || The Royal Mint

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;"

|+ Number of ten pence "A to Z" design coins minted for circulation by year