The 50p coin has started to be struck at The Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales, and will enter tills, wallets and purses in December.
Sculptor Martin Jennings, who created the portrait of the King, said that witnessing the coin being produced was a "quite remarkable experience".
He said it took months of painstaking work to get the image right.
He used pictures of King Charles on his 70th birthday to create a likeness of the monarch, in what is the smallest work he has ever had to produce.
King Charles's portrait is the first coin design undertaken by Mr Jennings, but his public sculptures include poets John Betjeman, in St Pancras Station in London, and Philip Larkin in Hull.
The reverse side of the coin is a copy of the design used on the 1953 Crown struck to commemorate the Queen's coronation.
It includes the four quarters of the Royal Arms depicted within a shield. In between each shield is an emblem of the home nations: a rose, a thistle, a shamrock and a leek.
The 50p coins will be available for general use in December, distributed according to demand by banks, building societies and post offices. Eventually, 9.6 million 50p coins of the latest design will be made. Other denominations will be manufactured, carrying the King's image, in line with demand.
They will co-circulate with coins featuring the late Queen, so those 27 billion coins will still be accepted in shops. Before decimalization, it was common for people to carry coins featuring different monarchs in their pockets.
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