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Infographic: MoneySupermarket celebrates 30 years of the £1 coin with 'The Story of the Pound Coin'

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By Gillian West, Social media manager

April 19, 2013 | 2 min read

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the pound coin this Sunday (21 April) MoneySupermarket has taken a look back at the history of the coin comparing the buying power of the £1 now and at its launch in 1983.

Released at the height of the Conservative Government, and reportedly disliked by the late PM Margaret Thatcher, the £1 coins popularity and distinctive design saw its forerunner, the £1 note, removed from circulation in 1988.

‘The Story of the Pound Coin’ charts the 30 years since the £1 coin became legal tender and marks decreasing value of the coin from 1983 to 2013. MoneySupermarket has found that in 1983 £1 would get you 1.4 pints of beer compared to just 0.3 pints now, and a £1 in 1983 would also get you 5.9 Mars bars whereas today you’d get just 1.7.

“So much has happened over the last 30 years, with the cost of living having risen significantly. This has had a major impact on what £1 will buy you now compared to when it was launched in 1983. The £1 coin is so familiar to us now, but few of us probably give a second thought to its history. To mark its 30th birthday, we’ve launched an interactive tool so people can track the journey it has come on,” commented MoneySupermarket editor-in-chief Clare Francis.

‘The Story of the Pound Coin’ also calculates just how many of the shiny golden nuggets David Beckham has earned from the point in which the user starts looking at the site...which is both fascinating and depressing in equal measure.

MoneySupermarket.com - The Story of the Pound

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