1994 Lion Rampant £1 Coin
The 1994 Lion Rampant £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 29.8 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1994
- Circulation mintage
- 29,752,525
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1994 Lion Rampant £1 worth?
With 29.8 million made, the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 is common. It has no collector value beyond the pound itself. Since 15 October 2017 the round pound can no longer be spent in shops. Only uncirculated coins from sets, genuine errors and the scarce dates bring more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with crisp edge lettering
- Original Royal Mint pack or set
- A genuine mint error confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 rare?
- No. 29.8 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1994 Lion Rampant £1 coins were made?
- 29,752,525 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 made of?
- Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel). It weighs 9.5 g and measures 22.5 mm.
- Is the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 still legal tender?
- No. The round pound stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017. It can no longer be spent in shops; collectors still want the scarce dates.
Why the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 was made
A new set of national designs began in 1994 and Scotland led off again. Norman Sillman created four heraldic reverses to replace Leslie Durbin's plant emblems and the first showed the lion rampant of Scotland. The lion rampant has been the royal emblem of the Scottish crown for centuries. Sillman's designs took a more formal, heraldic approach than the earlier set, drawing mostly on heraldry and national symbols rather than plants.
Only 29,752,525 Lion Rampant pounds were struck for circulation, a modest total by round pound standards. Among the dates from 1983 to 2007, only 1988, 1986 and 2007 had smaller runs. The design was due to return in 1999, but that year's coin was made only for Royal Mint sets and never reached change. So the 1994 coin is the only Lion Rampant pound you would expect to find in circulation. It carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait and has the standard 22.5 mm, 9.5 g nickel-brass format. Those facts make it one of the more interesting Maklouf-era dates for anyone sorting old pounds.
How to recognize it
Sillman's reverse shows a lion standing on its hind legs, claws raised, inside the double tressure flory counter-flory, a double border decorated with fleurs-de-lis that point alternately in and out. This is the lion of the Scottish royal arms. ONE POUND appears below. The obverse carries the Maklouf portrait. The edge reads NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT, "no one provokes me with impunity". Do not confuse it with the English Three Lions coin of 1997: Scotland has one upright lion, England three walking ones. The tressure's fine fleurs-de-lis wear quickly, so a coin that still shows them is in good condition.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1994 Lion Rampant £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 ranks 17th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (29.6 million); the next more common is the 1995 Dragon £1 (34.5 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 15 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 32 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 1994.
What to check on your 1994 Lion Rampant £1
- Read the edge. It should say NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT; an edge that doesn't match the design is the quickest sign of a fake.
- Turn the coin over on its vertical axis: on a genuine pound the design side is the same way up as the portrait. A tilted or upside-down reverse points to a copy.
- Weigh it: a genuine round pound weighs 9.5 g. Fakes are often light, soft in detail or a slightly different color.
- Remember that round pounds stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017, so a common one has no use in shops.
With about 29.8 million in circulation, the 1994 Lion Rampant is one of the lower-mintage round pounds and the only one of its design you are likely to meet in change. Worn coins are close to face value, though collectors like it more than the common dates. Unworn examples draw a small premium. Scottish pounds were faked like all the others, so make sure the edge reads NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT and the lion's outline is crisp. A coin from the 1994 Royal Mint sets will have bright, untouched surfaces.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1994 |
| Circulation mintage | 29,752,525 |
| Composition | Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel) |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
| Diameter | 22.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 1994 Lion Rampant pound rare?
It is scarcer than most round pounds, with 29,752,525 struck for circulation. It is also the only Lion Rampant date issued for change, as the 1999 coin was made only for sets. That still leaves plenty, so circulated coins are not rarities.
What is a double tressure flory counter-flory?
It is the heraldic border around the lion on the Scottish royal arms: two thin lines with fleurs-de-lis attached, pointing alternately inward and outward. On the 1994 pound it frames Norman Sillman's lion rampant.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.