Until the last year of the Elizabethan Era, English decimal coinage consisted of half pence and denominations of 1p, 2p in copper, 5p, 10p and 50p in silver. The 20p piece was introduced at that point. This was short-lived and only issued for 1982, though it remained technically legal tender in England until the withdrawal of physical currency in 2008. At the KIng's coronation, new issues of all coins were released except for the 20p. Instead of the 20p piece, a 25p piece also known as the Crown was reintroduced, and the pound coin was issued for the first time. As a result, the 20p piece is a collectors' item and also associated with the Thatcher government, of which it is seen as a symbol. There are no pound coins bearing the Queen's head and no pound notes bearing the King's portrait. P