Falkland Islands KM#204 1 Pound 2020 XF—Elizabeth II—Coat of Arms

A 12-sided bimetallic pound coin from one of the most isolated inhabited places on Earth — which Brian from World Money Store personally traveled ten days to reach. The dodecagonal shape is immediately distinctive in hand; the Coat of Arms reverse packs the entire identity of the Falkland Islands into a single engraving. Elizabeth II on the obverse, rendered in the Jody Clark portrait used across Commonwealth coinage from 2015 onward. A coin that tells you exactly where it’s from the moment you pick it up.

Ten days to get here

Getting to the Falkland Islands is not a casual trip. Brian from World Money Store needed to take ten days to travel here and back in 2025 when the Falklands issued their new beautiful polymer banknote series with King Charles. The route: fly to Santiago, Chile — itself a full day from the U.S. — overnight then onward to Stanley on a flight that operates once a week, with stops in Punta Arenas and Ushuaia. On the ground, there is one bank branch (no ATM) and one ATM (in a gas station) in the entire (magical) country.

Obverse

• Colors: silver-toned copper-nickel center; gold-toned brass ring
• Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II — the Jody Clark effigy, introduced in 2015 and used across Commonwealth coinage through the end of her reign
• Inscriptions: 2020 . ELIZABETH II . FALKLAND ISLANDS / PM
• Mint mark: PM (Pobjoy Mint)

Reverse

• Colors: gold-toned brass ring; silver-toned center
• Coat of Arms of the Falkland Islands — featuring a ship (HMS Desire, the vessel of John Strong who made the first recorded landing in 1690), a ram representing the islands’ historic wool industry, and wavy blue-and-white stripes symbolizing the surrounding South Atlantic Ocean
• Motto: DESIRE THE RIGHT — a play on the name of HMS Desire
• The year 2020 repeated in tiny characters 12 times around the inner edge
• Inscriptions: ONE POUND / DESIRE THE RIGHT

Edge

• Segmented reeding — milled on alternate edges (a security feature of the 12-sided format)

Other Characteristics

• Catalog numbers: KM#204; Numista N#199297
• Composition: Bimetallic — copper-nickel center in brass ring
• Weight: 8.75 g
• Diameter: 23.4 mm
• Thickness: 2.8 mm
• Shape: Dodecagonal (12-sided)
• Technique: Milled
• Orientation: Medal alignment ↑↑
• Issuer: Falkland Islands (British Overseas Territory)
• Issuing authority: Government of the Falkland Islands
• Mint: Pobjoy Mint, Surrey, United Kingdom (1965–2023)
• Queen: Elizabeth II (1952–2022)
• Type: Standard circulation
• Years: 2020–2021
• Value: 1 Pound (1 FKP = USD 1.35)
• Currency: Falkland Islands pound (decimalized, 1971–date)
• Official language: English
• Note on varieties: The 2020 PM issue has two known varieties — small inner circle and large inner circle. The 2021 PM issue is significantly scarcer (20% frequency vs. 85% for 2020).

About the Falkland Islands

• Origin of name: Named after Falkland Sound, the channel between the two main islands, which was itself named after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland, a naval official who funded an early expedition in 1690
• Capital: Stanley (pop. ~2,500 — the southernmost capital city in the world)
  • Origin of name: Named after Lord Stanley, British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the 1840s
• Population: ~3,800 (2021 census) — fewer people than many small towns
• Area: 12,173 km² (4,700 mi²) — similar to Connecticut or Northern Ireland
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$70,000+ — driven by fishing licenses and tourism
• Main exports: Squid and fish (fishing licenses are the primary revenue source), wool, tourism
• Borders: No land borders — surrounded by the South Atlantic Ocean; nearest mainland is Argentina (~500 km west)
• Official/spoken language: English
• Ethnicities: Falkland Islanders (“Kelpers”) of predominantly British descent; small communities of Saint Helenians and Chileans
• Memberships: British Overseas Territory; United Kingdom responsible for defense and foreign affairs

Argentina’s Dangerous National Myth

Argentina claims the islands as Islas Malvinas — but the facts don’t support the claim. Argentina never owned the Falklands. Its national myth is based on two brief periods when a handful of Spaniards/Argentines were present on the islands:

1. The British and French built forts in the 1760s, of which the French fort passed into Spanish hands from 1767 to 1811.
2. Louis Vernet, a German immigrant to Argentina, founded a settlement of 80–100 people that lasted around seven years, 1826–1833, of whom roughly two dozen were Argentine gauchos (who are, incidentally, portrayed on a 50 peso banknote).

Britain established the capital Stanley in 1845, whereas all of southernmost Argentina didn’t even have a single town until 1869, when Ushuaia was founded. Stanley grew to 2,000 people by 1900. In the 2013 referendum, 99.8% of islanders voted to remain a British Overseas Territory. Its citizens are full British citizens. Three votes were cast against.

Falkland Islands Unfiltered

The Falklands War lasted 74 days in 1982. Argentina invaded; Britain sent a task force 8,000 miles. 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers died over islands with fewer than 2,000 residents at the time.

The islands have more penguins than people — by a factor of roughly 350 to 1. An estimated 1.2 million penguins of five species breed there.

Unexploded Argentine landmines from 1982 fenced off large sections of coastline for decades. Those beaches became accidental penguin sanctuaries, undisturbed by humans for 40 years. Most mines were finally cleared by 2020.

The Falklands economy runs largely on squid. Fishing licenses sold to foreign fleets — mostly Asian — generate more revenue than anything else. The islands have no income tax.

In the 2013 sovereignty referendum, 1,513 votes were cast in favor of remaining British. Three voted against. Argentina called the result illegitimate.

The shape is not an accident

The 12-sided dodecagonal format was adopted by the UK for its own pound coin in 2017 as an anti-counterfeiting measure — and the Falklands followed suit. Each of the 12 sides corresponds to one of the alternating milled and smooth edge segments, making the coin immediately identifiable by touch alone. The Pobjoy Mint in Surrey, which struck coins for dozens of territories and small nations from 1965 until its closure in 2023, produced this issue. It is one of the last generations of Falklands coinage to bear Elizabeth II’s portrait.

The Coat of Arms tells the whole story

The reverse is dense with meaning. HMS Desire — the ship on the shield — made the first recorded European landing on the Falklands in 1690, and the motto DESIRE THE RIGHT is a direct play on its name. The ram above the shield represents wool, which was the economic backbone of the islands for over a century. The wavy stripes below evoke the South Atlantic that defines and isolates the territory. The year 2020 is stamped in miniature, 12 times, around the inner edge — once for each side of the coin.

Own this coin from the edge of the world

This is a pound coin from a territory of 3,800 people, struck by a mint that no longer exists, bearing the portrait of a queen who no longer reigns. The Pobjoy Mint closed in 2023; Elizabeth II died in 2022. This coin is already a document of things that have passed. XF condition: sharp detail, clean surfaces, the segmented edge intact.

A coin from the edge of the world, sourced from the edge of the world.