1. Pound problems

No wonder a newly shaped £1 coin is on the way.

The Bank of England believes there are 50 million fake £1 coins in circulation, according to a Jan. 20 Daily Mail report.

If accurate, that means one out of every 30 £1 coins is a phony. 

"Industry specialists say it costs around 20 pence per coin to make a fake £1 coin. The fakes are sold on the black market to distributors for around 70 pence each," the Daily Mail reports.

The Royal Mint is pushing back against counterfeiters by releasing a new 12-sided £1 coin in 2017.

2. Precious metals pricing

Kitco.com listed the following prices per ounce at 9:32 a.m. ET Wednesday:

• Gold: $1,304.10
• Silver: $18.465

3. What's new on CoinWorld.com?

With the 2015 Florida United Numismatists show behind us, we're looking ahead to the Long Beach Expo at the end of the month.

There's plenty of interesting stuff going on in California.

4. Yesterday's most-viewed post

2015 Ultra High Relief 24-karat-gold coin from U.S. Mint to carry $75 denomination

5. Wait a minute ...