Collectors who want to get their hands on the new £1 coin before its release into general circulation at the end of the month can buy their own version starting from Monday, the Royal Mint has announced.

Prices range from £10 for the uncirculated coin to £1,995 for the gold proof two-coin set.

David Pearce, 15, from Walsall beat off competition from over 6,000 entries, including adults, to design the face of the coin, which is being introduced because the current £1 has become vulnerable to counterfeiters.

The coin's design pictures the Welsh leek, the Scottish thistle, the Northern Irish shamrock and the English rose emerging from a royal coronet.

"The winning idea combined traditional elements but also symbolised a modern United Kingdom in an elegant and a succinct way,” Dr Kevin Clancy, director of The Royal Mint Museum, who helped choose the design, said.

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"It was a young person's interpretation of an idea while still being steeped in history and tradition," he added, he added.

The new-look 12-sided £1 will come into circulation across the UK on 28 March and shops have been told to stop accepting the traditional round coins on 15 October.

Ministers, earlier this month, reminded the public of the importance of all old coins being returned before the date when they lose their legal tender status.

The £1 coin was introduced in 1983, with a total of 2.2 billion having been struck for circulation since.

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The last available figures, published by the Royal Mint in 2014, suggested that 1.55 billion £1 coins are in circulation.