[DanaC]

From wiki:

In 2008, UK coins underwent an extensive redesign, which changed the reverse designs, and some other details, of all coins except the £2.[17] The original intention was to exclude both the £1 and £2 coins from the redesign because they were "relatively new additions" to the coinage, but it was later decided to include the £1 coin.[18] This was the first wholesale change to British coinage since the first decimal coins were introduced in April 1968. The new coins were initially to be put into circulation in early 2008,[19] although they did not actually start to appear until mid-2008.

The major design feature was the introduction of a reverse design shared across six coins (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p), that can be pieced together to form an image of the Royal Shield. This was the first time a coin design had been featured across multiple coins in this way.[17] Completing the set, the new £1 reverse features the Shield in its entirety. The effigy of the Queen, by Ian Rank-Broadley, continues to appear on the obverse of all the coins.[17]

On all coins, the beading (ring of small dots) around the edge of the obverses has been removed. The obverse of the 20p coin has also been amended to incorporate the year, which had been on the reverse of the coin since its introduction in 1982 (giving rise to an unusual issue of a mule version without any date at all[20]). The orientation of both sides of the 50p coin has been rotated through 180 degrees, meaning the "bottom" of the coin is now a corner rather than a flat edge. The numerals showing the decimal value of each coin, previously present on all coins except £2 and £1, have been removed, leaving the values spelled out in words only.

I mustn't have been listening properly when this stuff was in the news :P

The redesign was the result of a competition launched by the Royal Mint in August 2005, which closed on 14 November 2005. The competition was open to the public and received over 4,000 entries.[17] The winning entry was unveiled on 2 April 2008, designed by Matthew Dent.[17] Dent's initials can be seen on the new coinage. The Royal Mint stated the new designs were "reflecting a twenty-first century Britain".[19] An advisor to the Royal Mint described the new coins as "post-modern" and said that this was something that could not have been done 50 years previously.[21]

The redesign was criticised by some for having no specifically Welsh symbol (such as the Welsh Dragon), because the Royal Shield does not include a specifically Welsh symbol. Wrexham MP Ian Lucas, who was also campaigning to have the Welsh Dragon included on the Union Flag, called the omission "disappointing", and stated that he would be writing to the Queen to request that the Royal Standard be changed to include Wales.[22] The Royal Mint stated that "the Shield of the Royal Arms is symbolic of the whole of the United Kingdom and as such, represents Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland."[22] Designer Dent stated "I am a Welshman and proud of it, but I never thought about the fact we did not have a dragon or another representation of Wales on the design because as far as I am concerned Wales is represented on the Royal Arms. This was never an issue for me."[22]

The designs were also criticised for not including a portrayal of Britannia, the female personification of Britain whose image has appeared on British coinage continuously since 1672.[23] In response to the concern over the loss of Britannia, the chairman of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee stated "There are 806 million Britannias in circulation at the moment [on the old 50p coin]. They will remain in circulation. They will see all of us out, until they die a natural death. So whatever happens, Britannia stays around".[17]

The Royal Mint's choice of an inexperienced coin designer to produce the new coinage was criticised by Virginia Ironside, daughter of Christopher Ironside who designed the previous UK coins. She stated that the new designs were "totally unworkable as actual coins", due to the loss of a numerical currency identifier, and the smaller typeface used.[24]

The German news magazine Der Spiegel claimed that the redesign signalled the UK's intention "not to join the euro any time soon".[25]