The British decimal twenty pence

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

(often shortened to 20p in writing and speech) is a denomination of sterling coinage worth of a pound. Like the 50p coin, it is an

equilateral curve A Reuleaux triangle is a curved triangle with constant width, the simplest and best known curve of constant width other than the circle. It is formed from the intersection of three circular disks, each having its center on the boundary of the ...

heptagon In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon. The heptagon is sometimes referred to as the septagon, using "sept-" (an elision of ''septua-'', a Latin-derived numerical prefix, rather than '' hepta-'', a Greek-derived nu ...

. Its obverse has featured the profile of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

since the coin's introduction on 9 June 1982. Four different portraits of the Queen have been used; the latest design by

Jody Clark Jody Clark (born 1 March 1981) is a British engraver formerly employed by the Royal Mint. He designed the fifth and final portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to feature on coins of the pound sterling, and that portrait was the fifth and final to fea ...

was introduced in 2015. The second and current reverse (as of 2019), featuring a segment of the Royal Shield, was introduced in 2008. As of March 2014 there were an estimated 2,765 million 20p coins in circulation, with an estimated face value of £553.025 million. Of this estimated number, between 50,000 and 200,000 of these coins are undated mule coins minted in 2008 after the dies for the old and new designs were accidentally mixed up during the minting process. Beyond the usual commemorative versions, no 20 pence coins were minted for general circulation in 2017. This was because the concurrent introduction of the new version of the one pound coin had put enough 20 pence (and two pound) coins back into circulation, as people emptied coin jars primarily for the older one pound coin that was due to be withdrawn. 20p coins are

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...

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

Design

The original reverse of the coin, designed by William Gardner, and used from 1982 to 2008, is a crowned

Tudor rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists o ...

, with the numeral "20" below the rose, and TWENTY PENCE above the rose. To date, three different

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

s have been used. On coins minted before the 2008 redesign, the inscription is . Coins minted after the 2008 redesign also have the year of minting on the obverse. Like all the new decimal coins introduced in 1971, until 1984 the portrait of

Arnold Machin Arnold Machin OBE, R.A., FRSS (; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer. Life Machin was born Stoke-on-Trent in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice china pai ...

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. From 1998 to 2015 the portrait by

Ian Rank-Broadley Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS (born 1952) is a British sculptor who has produced many acclaimed works, among which are several designs for British coinage and the memorial statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace in London unveiled on her 60th ...

was used, again featuring the

tiara A tiara (from la, tiara, from grc, τιάρα) is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women ...

, with a signature-mark below the portrait. As of June 2015, coins bearing the portrait by

have been seen in circulation. In August 2005 the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury and is un ...

launched a

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, ind ...

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 20p coin depicts the meeting point of the second and fourth quarter of the shield, showing the lions rampant of Scotland and the lions passant of England. The date no longer appears on the reverse of the coin, and has instead been added to the obverse, where the lettering has been adjusted so as to fit the date in.

Status as legal tender

20p coins are

for amounts up to and including £10. 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.

Dateless coin

An unusual accidental dateless version of the 20 pence was reported to be in circulation in June 2009, the first undated British coin to enter circulation in more than 300 years. This was the result of the production of a

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two po ...

, i.e. a version of the coin with a non-standard combination of

obverse and reverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ' ...

face designs. The fault occurred as a result of the 2008 redesign of UK coinage, which moved the date on a 20 pence from the reverse to the obverse (Queen's head side), and a batch of coins were produced using the

tooling Tooling may refer to: * Machine tools and the tooling, such as cutting tools, fixtures, and accessories, that is used on them ** Cutting tool (machining), any of hundreds of kinds of cutters ** Fixture (tool), a fixed workholding or support device ...

for the obverse of the old design and the reverse of the new design. The Royal Mint estimated that between 50,000 and 200,000 entered circulation before the error was noticed. The Royal Mint stated that these coins were

, although due to their rarity they are traded at above face value by

collectors Collector(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Collector (character), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe * ''Collector'' (2011 film), a 2011 Indian Malayalam film * ''Collector'' (2016 film), a 2016 Russian film * ''Collec ...

. Following publicity about the coins, they were initially traded on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

for several thousand pounds, although an eBay spokesman was unable to confirm if an accepted winning bid of £7,100 for one coin had actually been transacted. In June 2011 they trade at around £100.

Mintages

Mintage figures below represent the number of coins of each date released for circulation. Mint Sets have been produced since 1982; where mintages on or after that date indicate 'none', there are examples contained within those sets.

Machin portrait

*1982 ~ 740,815,000 *1983 ~ 158,463,000 *1984 ~ 65,350,965

Maklouf portrait

*1985 ~ 74,273,699 *1986 ~ none *1987 ~ 137,450,000 *1988 ~ 38,038,344 *1989 ~ 132,013,890 *1990 ~ 88,097,500 *1991 ~ 35,901,250 *1992 ~ 31,205,000 *1993 ~ 123,123,750 *1994 ~ 67,131,250 *1995 ~ 102,005,000 *1996 ~ 83,163,750 *1997 ~ 89,518,750

Rank-Broadley portrait

*1998 ~ 76,965,000 *1999 ~ 73,478,750 *2000 ~ 136,428,750 *2001 ~ 148,122,500 *2002 ~ 93,360,000 *2003 ~ 153,383,750 *2004 ~ 120,212,500 *2005 ~ 124,488,750 *2006 ~ 114,800,000 *2007 ~ 117,075,000 *2008 ~ 11,900,000

Matthew Dent design

*2008 ~ 115,022,000 (the dateless coin is included in this mintage) *2009 ~ 121,625,300 *2010 ~ 112,875,500 *2011 ~ 191,625,000 *2012 ~ 69,650,030 *2013 ~ 66,325,000 *2014 ~ 173,775,000 *2015 ~ 63,175,000 (4th Portrait)

Jody Clark portrait

*2015 ~ 131,250,000 (5th Portrait) *2016 ~ 212,625,000 *2017 ~ 0 (zero) *2018 ~ 0 (zero) *2019 ~ 125,125,000 *2020 ~ 32,725,000 *2021 ~ 19,600,000

References

External links

Royal Mint – 20p coinTwenty Pence, Coin Type from United Kingdom - Online Coin Club

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twenty Pence (British Decimal Coin) Coins of the United Kingdom Currencies introduced in 1982 Twenty-cent coins