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Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to become one of the first owners of the coin on Friday when Sajid Javid, the chancellor of the Exchequer, plans to hand one over. Seven million more will come into use later in the year.

But as with almost everything Brexit-related, the short history of the coin, which has a face value equivalent to about 65 cents, has already been fraught. Production began ahead of a previously planned departure on Oct. 31, but when Brexit was pushed back to January, over a million coins had to be melted down.

When re-dated coins were unveiled, some people called for a boycott, either to display opposition to Brexit or because they find the message on the coin grammatically offensive.

“The ‘Brexit’ 50p coin is missing an Oxford comma, and should be boycotted by all literate people,” the novelist Philip Pullman wrote on Twitter, arguing that the inscription should instead read “Peace, prosperity, and friendship with all nations.”

E.U. leaders lament the loss and look to the future.

In an opinion article published across the European press, the presidents of the three main European Union institutions called Brexit Friday a “new dawn” for Europe.

After offering kind words on Britain’s departure, Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, Charles Michel of the European Council and David Sassoli of the European Parliament tried to strike an upbeat tone.

“We need to look to the future and build a new partnership between enduring friends,” they wrote. “Together, our three institutions will do everything in their power to make it a success. We are ready to be ambitious.”