The British decimal ten pence piece (10p) is a denomination of sterling coinage worth of a pound, or ten pence. 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until a smaller version was introduced on 30 September 1992, with the older coins and the pre-decimal florin being withdrawn on 30 June 1993.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 minted after 1992 are legal tender for amounts up to the sum of £5 for 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, 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 The older and larger version of the coin was withdrawn from circulation on 30 June 1993.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 below the portrait.

From 2015, the obverse featured a portrait by Jody Clark.

Reverse

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."Royal Mint seeks new coin designs", BBC News, 17 August 2005 The winner, announced in April 2008, was Matthew Dent, whose designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from mid-2008."Royal Mint unveils new UK coins" , 2 April 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 5.72 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 +Number of ten pence coins minted for circulation by year Year Number minted Composition Diameter (mm) Portrait Reverse 1968 336,143,250 Cupro-nickel 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 2023 600,000Jennings The Royal Mint202402025020266,500,000

+ 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 '0', there are examples contained within those sets.

References

Notes

External links

Royal Mint – 10p coin Online Coin Club: Ten Pence, Coin Type from United Kingdom