By Joe Campbell BBC News Magazine As the Royal Mint puts the final touches to a re-designed one pence piece, do we really care any more about a coin that is so little valued more than six billion have been lost without a trace?
By Joe Campbell BBC News Magazine As the Royal Mint puts the final touches to a re-designed one pence piece, do we really care any more about a coin that is so little valued more than six billion have been lost without a trace?
Once there was a time when the closest most of us came to royalty was carrying a coin bearing the monarch's head in our pocket.
Once there was a time when the closest most of us came to royalty was carrying a coin bearing the monarch's head in our pocket.
These days, increasingly it seems we have a stronger link with the Crown, for like the Queen, fewer and fewer of us actually carry money around - unless it's the plastic kind bearing the credit card company's logo rather than the ancient heraldic devices from the coin of the realm.
These days, increasingly it seems we have a stronger link with the Crown, for like the Queen, fewer and fewer of us actually carry money around - unless it's the plastic kind bearing the credit card company's logo rather than the ancient heraldic devices from the coin of the realm.
If we have fallen out of love with hard cash though, then it would seem the humble penny is least loved of all.
If we have fallen out of love with hard cash though, then it would seem the humble penny is least loved of all.
More than ten billion of them are currently thought to be in circulation according to the Royal Mint.
More than 10 billion of them are currently thought to be in circulation according to the Royal Mint.
Lost money
Lost money
But that figure does not tell the whole story for since Britain went decimal in February 1971, more than half as many again have actually been produced, and truth be told, nobody quite knows where they have gone.
But that figure does not tell the whole story for since Britain went decimal in February 1971, more than half as many again have actually been produced, and truth be told, nobody quite knows where they have gone.
What will a penny buy you these days?"The coins estimated to be in circulation, compared to the total number of 1p coins issued since it was introduced 36 years ago, suggests that over 6,500 million are no longer in general circulation," said a spokesman for the Royal Mint.
What will a penny buy you these days?"The coins estimated to be in circulation, compared to the total number of 1p coins issued since it was introduced 36 years ago, suggests that over 6,500 million are no longer in general circulation," said a spokesman for the Royal Mint.
"There are a number of explanations for this, including travellers taking them abroad."
"There are a number of explanations for this, including travellers taking them abroad."
Market boss John Ayres, who works in one of the last bastions of the cash economy perhaps knows where some of the missing £65m has got to.
Market boss John Ayres, who works in one of the last bastions of the cash economy perhaps knows where some of the missing £65m has got to.
"When I get home I just take all the coins out of my pocket and leave them on the dresser until somebody calls with a charity collection or we're feeling really hard-up," he says.
"When I get home I just take all the coins out of my pocket and leave them on the dresser until somebody calls with a charity collection or we're feeling really hard-up," he says.
John, who manages one of Britain's biggest markets in Bury in Lancashire says many stall holders will still price goods along the lines of "and 99 pence" to avoid breaching the next crucial pound barrier.
John, who manages one of Britain's biggest markets in Bury in Lancashire says many stall holders will still price goods along the lines of "and 99 pence" to avoid breaching the next crucial pound barrier.
"I bought something yesterday and it came to £3.99 and I said to the trader you can keep the penny. I've seen people years ago throwing the old half pence piece away and I think the penny is now viewed the same way.
"I bought something yesterday and it came to £3.99 and I said to the trader you can keep the penny. I've seen people years ago throwing the old half pence piece away and I think the penny is now viewed the same way.
"Personally speaking I can't see it being around much longer - maybe two or three years. I don't think you can buy things for a penny anymore. It's a sign of the times."
"Personally speaking I can't see it being around much longer - maybe two or three years. I don't think you can buy things for a penny anymore. It's a sign of the times."
The Royal Mint disagrees the coins days are numbered - as its re-design plans demonstrate.
The Royal Mint disagrees the coins days are numbered - as its re-design plans demonstrate.
Penny packet
Penny packet
And a penny can still get buy to some things - in theory at least.
And a penny can still get buy to some things - in theory at least.
HISTORY FOR A PENNY First Penny coins struck under King Offa around 755Used silver equivalent to the weight of 24 grains of barleyThis weight - 1.6g - was the original "pennyweight" The town of New Mills in Derbyshire is home to a company whose name will be familiar to generations who used their pocket money to buy penny sweets from the corner shop.
HISTORY FOR A PENNY First Penny coins struck under King Offa around 755Used silver equivalent to the weight of 24 grains of barleyThis weight - 1.6g - was the original "pennyweight" The town of New Mills in Derbyshire is home to a company whose name will be familiar to generations who used their pocket money to buy penny sweets from the corner shop.
"We still do a filled sherbet straw that costs a penny but there are fewer and fewer products that are only one pence," says Andrew Matlow of the town's biggest employer, Swizzels Matlow.
"We still do a filled sherbet straw that costs a penny but there are fewer and fewer products that are only one pence," says Andrew Matlow of the town's biggest employer, Swizzels Matlow.
These days it is the mums who do most of the sweets buying as part of the weekly family shop. The big stores, he says, have no time for a handful of chews that sell for just a few coppers and the penny sweets that do still roll off the production line are more likely to be sold in plastic-wrapped multi-packs costing rather more than 20p maximum that people are obliged to accept in pennies as legal tender.
These days it is the mums who do most of the sweets buying as part of the weekly family shop. The big stores, he says, have no time for a handful of chews that sell for just a few coppers and the penny sweets that do still roll off the production line are more likely to be sold in plastic-wrapped multi-packs costing rather more than 20p maximum that people are obliged to accept in pennies as legal tender.
Even the coin collectors have little time for the new penny. one expert describing it as "very boring," compared to the coin it replaced on D-day or decimalisation day back in February 1971.
Even the coin collectors have little time for the new penny. one expert describing it as "very boring," compared to the coin it replaced on D-day or decimalisation day back in February 1971.
"There was some sort of romanticism about the old penny with coins dating back to the time of Victoria still in circulation," says Jeremy Cheek, Numismatist with coin dealers, Spink.
"There was some sort of romanticism about the old penny with coins dating back to the time of Victoria still in circulation," says Jeremy Cheek, Numismatist with coin dealers, Spink.
Penny for the guy? Best make that 50p"When plans were announced to get rid of the old coins, that actually sparked many people's interest and they began collecting."
Penny for the guy? Best make that 50p"When plans were announced to get rid of the old coins, that actually sparked many people's interest and they began collecting."
The now not so new penny has also been hampered by its very consistency, what the mint might see as an attribute making the coin perhaps just a little too everyday for the rest of us.
The now not so new penny has also been hampered by its very consistency, what the mint might see as an attribute making the coin perhaps just a little too everyday for the rest of us.
Since its introduction 36 years ago, it has changed remarkably little. The prefix "new" was dropped from the coin's tail-side in 1982 and the head has seen three different pictures of the Queen as she has aged alongside the design.
Since its introduction 36 years ago, it has changed remarkably little. The prefix "new" was dropped from the coin's tail-side in 1982 and the head has seen three different pictures of the Queen as she has aged alongside the design.
But perhaps the biggest change will have passed most of us by with the switch in 1992 from an alloy of bronze, copper and zinc, to a steel disc coated in copper, when the price of the original raw materials outstripped the penny's face value.
But perhaps the biggest change will have passed most of us by with the switch in 1992 from an alloy of bronze, copper and zinc, to a steel disc coated in copper, when the price of the original raw materials outstripped the penny's face value.
So if there is no longer a scrap value in the humble penny - where have the missing coins gone?
So if there is no longer a scrap value in the humble penny - where have the missing coins gone?
New look
New look
Experts at the British Museum, the sometime beneficiary of hoards of rather more valuable historic coins unearthed by treasure hunters, have one theory.
Experts at the British Museum, the sometime beneficiary of hoards of rather more valuable historic coins unearthed by treasure hunters, have one theory.
There are probably jars of them all over the country Katie Eagleton, British Museum "People seem to like putting them in a jar," says Katie Eagleton, curator of modern money.
There are probably jars of them all over the country Katie Eagleton, British Museum "People seem to like putting them in a jar," says Katie Eagleton, curator of modern money.
"There are probably jars of them all over the country," she adds, only partly in jest, as she sorts through a recent bequest including new pennies from each year they've been minted.
"There are probably jars of them all over the country," she adds, only partly in jest, as she sorts through a recent bequest including new pennies from each year they've been minted.
The museum already receives an example of the coins made each year, direct from the mint, and she defends the soon to be replaced portcullis design.
The museum already receives an example of the coins made each year, direct from the mint, and she defends the soon to be replaced portcullis design.
"It's good because you can recognise it straight away and it's got enough detail to make it difficult to forge - not that anyone would probably ever want to waste their time making fake pennies!"
"It's good because you can recognise it straight away and it's got enough detail to make it difficult to forge - not that anyone would probably ever want to waste their time making fake pennies!"
The existing design won't vanish overnight when the re-vamped penny is introduced with what the mint promises will be a design reflecting "modern Britain."
The existing design won't vanish overnight when the re-vamped penny is introduced with what the mint promises will be a design reflecting "modern Britain."
Only once it is unveiled to the public, later this year, will we know whether it will put the shine back on the face of the most humble of coins.
Only once it is unveiled to the public, later this year, will we know whether it will put the shine back on the face of the most humble of coins.
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