View source for Ten pence (British coin)

{{short description|British decimal coin}}
{{Infobox coin
| Country             = United Kingdom
| Denomination        = Ten pence
| Value               = £0.10
| Unit                = 
| Mass                = (1968–1992) 11.31 g<br>(1992–present) 6.5
| Diameter            = (1968–1992) 28.5 mm<br>(1992–present) 24.5
| Thickness           = ([[Cupro-nickel]]) 1.85 mm<br>([[Steel]]) 2.05
| Edge                = Milled
| Composition         = [[Cupro-nickel]] (1971–2012)<br>[[Nickel]]-plated [[steel]] (2012–)
| Years of Minting    = 1968–present
| Catalog Number      =
| Obverse             = [[File:British 10 pence coin obverse 2016.png|150px]]
| Obverse Design      = [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]]
| Obverse Designer    = [[Jody Clark]]
| Obverse Design Date = 2015
| Reverse             = [[File:British ten pence coin 2015 reverse.png|150px]]
| Reverse Design      = Segment of the [[Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom|Royal Shield]]
| Reverse Designer    = [[Matthew Dent (designer)|Matthew Dent]]
| Reverse Design Date = 2008
}}
The [[United Kingdom|British]] decimal '''ten pence''' [[coin]] (often shortened to '''10p''' in writing and speech) is a denomination of [[Coins of the United Kingdom|sterling coinage]] worth {{frac|1|10}} of a [[pound sterling|pound]]. Its obverse has featured the profile of the [[British monarch]] since the coin's introduction in 1968, to replace the [[Florin (British coin)|florin (two shilling) coin]] in preparation for [[Decimal Day|decimalisation]] in 1971.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bignell.uk.com/post_dec.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010307074324/http://www.bignell.uk.com/post_dec.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 7, 2001|first=C P|title=Post decimalisation|last=Bignell|access-date=2006-05-23}}</ref> 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until a smaller version was introduced on 30 September 1992, with the older coins and the pre-decimal florin being withdrawn on 30 June 1993.<ref name="EckettPearce2008">{{cite book|author1=Eckett, Stephen|author2=Pearce, Craig|title=Harriman's Money Miscellany: A Collection of Financial Facts and Corporate Curiosities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=14rNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|year=2008|publisher=Harriman House Limited|isbn=978-1-905641-95-6|page=19}}</ref> 

The ten pence coin was originally minted from [[cupro-nickel]] (75% [[Copper|Cu]], 25% [[Nickel|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/cupro-nickel-replacement |title=Cupro Nickel Replacement Programme |year=2013 |access-date = 7 January 2024|publisher=Royal Mint }}</ref>

{{As of|March 2014|post=,}} there were an estimated 1,631&nbsp;million 10p coins in circulation, with an estimated face value of £163.08&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royalmint.com/corporate/circulating-coin/uk-currency/mintages/10-pence/|title=Ten Pence mintage figures (10p)|publisher=Royal Mint|access-date=10 January 2025}}</ref>

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 [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]]'s reign, four different [[obverse]]s were used. The inscription until 2015 was {{small|ELIZABETH II [[British coinage#D.G.REG.F.D.|D.G.REG.F.D.]]}},<ref name="bcoins">{{cite web|url=https://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/dec10.html|title= Coins of the UK – Decimal Ten Pence|first=Tony|last=Clayton|access-date=9 January 2025}}</ref> followed by the year of minting. In the original design both sides of the coin are [[Pearl circle|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,<ref name="design">{{cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/Corp_british_coinage/CoinDesign/1pCoin.asp|title=1p Coin|publisher=British Royal Mint|access-date=2006-05-23 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060427104248/http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/Corp_british_coinage/CoinDesign/1pCoin.asp <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2006-04-27}}</ref> in which the Queen wears the [[Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara|'Girls of Great Britain and Ireland' Tiara]].

Between 1985 and 1997 the portrait by [[Raphael Maklouf]] was used,<ref name="design" /> 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,<ref name="design" /> again featuring the [[Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara|tiara]], with a signature-mark {{small|IRB}} below the portrait.

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

===Reverse===
[[File:British ten pence coin 1992 reverse.png|thumb|100px|left|Reverse: 1982–2008]]

==== Original reverse design ====
The original [[Obverse and reverse|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 <small>NEW PENCE</small> (1968–1981) or <small>TEN PENCE</small> (1982–2008) above the lion.

==== Royal Shield design ====
In August 2005 the [[Royal Mint]] launched a [[Coins of the pound sterling#Reverse designs (from 2008)|competition]] to find new reverse designs for all circulating coins apart from the £2 coin.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4160122.stm "Royal Mint seeks new coin designs"], BBC News, 17 August 2005</ref> The winner, announced in April 2008, was [[Matthew Dent (designer)|Matthew Dent]], whose designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from mid-2008.<ref>[http://www.dofonline.co.uk/economy/royal-mint-unveils-new-uk-coins.html "Royal Mint unveils new UK coins"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307030121/http://www.dofonline.co.uk/economy/royal-mint-unveils-new-uk-coins.html |date=2009-03-07 }}, 2 April 2008</ref> The designs for the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins depict sections of the [[Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom|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 5,720,000 for all 26.<ref>{{cite web|title=2018 Quintessentially British A to Z – Silver Coins|url=https://www.royalmint.com/coinhunt/sterling-silver-coins/|website=www.royalmint.com|access-date=14 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ten Pence mintage figures (10p) by The Royal Mint|url=https://www.royalmint.com/currency/uk-currency/mintages/10-pence/|website=www.royalmint.com|access-date=14 October 2019}}</ref>{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
*A – [[Angel of the North]]
*B – [[James Bond|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 – [[List of jubilees of British monarchs|Jubilee]]
*K – [[King Arthur]]
*L – [[Loch Ness Monster]]
*M – [[Mackintosh (raincoat)|Mackintosh]]
*N – [[National Health Service|NHS]]
*O – [[Oak tree]]
*P – [[Post box]]
*Q – [[Queuing]]
*R – [[European robin|Robin]]
*S – [[Stonehenge]]
*T – [[Tea in the United Kingdom|Tea]]
*U – [[Flag of the United Kingdom|Union Flag]]
*V – [[Village]]
*W – [[World Wide Web]]
*X – [[wikt:X marks the spot|X marks the spot]]
*Y – [[Yeomen Warders|Yeoman Warder]]
*Z – [[Zebra crossing]]
{{Div col end}}

=== King Charles III definitive design ===
In October 2023 the King Charles III ten-pence coin was presented; the coin features a [[Western capercaillie|capercaillie]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67091137|work= [[BBC News]]|title=King Charles III new coins designed to help children to count|access-date = 11 January 2025|date = 13 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royalmint.com/annual-sets/2023/definitives/|title= 2023 Definitives: His Majesty King Charles III’s First Definitive Coins| website=[[Royal Mint]]|access-date = 11 January 2025}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Mintages==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;" 
|+Number of ten pence coins minted for circulation by year<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=10p Ten Pence Mintage Figures |url=https://www.royalmint.com/corporate/circulating-coin/uk-currency/mintages/10-pence/ |access-date=2023-09-02 |website=www.royalmint.com}}</ref>
! 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;" | {{nowrap|28.5}} || 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<ref>{{Cite news |last=Banfield-Nwachi |first=Mabel |date=2023-10-12 |title=Royal Mint unveils new coin design inspired by King Charles |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/12/royal-mint-unveils-new-coin-design-inspired-by-king-charles |access-date=2025-08-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;" 
|+ Number of ten pence "A to Z" design coins minted for circulation by year<ref name=":0" />
! Year
! Letter
! Description
! Number minted
|-
| rowspan="26" | 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
|-
| rowspan="26" | 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==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Portal|Money|Numismatics|United Kingdom}}
*[http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/ten-pence-coin Royal Mint – 10p coin]
*[https://onlinecoin.club/Coins/CoinType/United_Kingdom/Ten_Pence/ Online Coin Club: Ten Pence, Coin Type from United Kingdom]

{{British_coinage}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ten Pence (British Coin)}}
[[Category:1968 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Coins of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Currencies introduced in 1968]]
[[Category:Ten-cent coins]]
[[Category:Elizabeth II]]