1995 Dragon £1 Coin
The 1995 Dragon £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 34.5 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1995
- Circulation mintage
- 34,503,501
- 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 1995 Dragon £1 worth?
With 34.5 million made, the 1995 Dragon £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 1995 Dragon £1 rare?
- No. 34.5 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1995 Dragon £1 coins were made?
- 34,503,501 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1995 Dragon £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 1995 Dragon £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 1995 Dragon £1 was made
Wales received a new pound design in 1995: the Welsh dragon. Norman Sillman's dragon is shown passant, walking with one foreleg raised, the stance it takes on the national flag of Wales. It replaced Leslie Durbin's leek, which had served for the Welsh coins of 1985 and 1990. It was the second coin in Sillman's heraldic set after the Scottish lion of 1994.
For circulation the Royal Mint struck 34,503,501 Dragon pounds dated 1995. That is a modest run, much smaller than the 109,496,500 struck when the design came back in 2000. So if you find a Dragon pound, check the date: the 1995 coin is about three times scarcer than the later one. The 1995 Dragon carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of the Queen, while the 2000 version has Ian Rank-Broadley's, which gives a quick way to sort them even when the date is worn. Like every round pound it was 22.5 mm across, weighed 9.5 g and was struck in nickel-brass. The Welsh edge inscription carried over from the leek coins.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows a single dragon in the passant pose, one foreleg lifted, wings raised and tail curling behind, with ONE POUND below. The obverse is Maklouf's effigy of the Queen in a diadem. On the edge you should read PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD, which means "true am I to my country" and comes from the Welsh national anthem. A dragon pound with a Latin edge is a warning sign. If you are trying to tell 1995 from 2000 and the date is unclear, compare the portraits: Maklouf's Queen wears a diadem and Rank-Broadley's wears a tiara. The dragon fills most of the field, so even a worn coin is easy to identify by design.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1995 Dragon £1 by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 1995 Dragon £1 ranks 18th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 (29.8 million); the next more common is the 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (35.7 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 13 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 37 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 1995.
What to check on your 1995 Dragon £1
- Read the edge. It should say PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD; 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.
Around 34.5 million is a below-average mintage for a round pound and the 1995 Dragon is noticeably less common than its 2000 twin. Worn coins are face value or close to it. Sharp, unworn examples, especially those from Royal Mint sets, draw a small premium. The dragon's scales and wing tips wear first, so they are a good guide to condition. Counterfeit round pounds made up about one in thirty of those in circulation by the end, so check the edge wording carefully and make sure the Welsh words are spelled correctly.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1995 |
| Circulation mintage | 34,503,501 |
| Composition | Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel) |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
| Diameter | 22.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Frequently asked questions
How many 1995 Dragon pound coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 34,503,501 Dragon pounds dated 1995 for circulation. When the same design returned in 2000, the figure was 109,496,500, so the 1995 coin is roughly three times scarcer than the later date.
Who designed the Welsh dragon £1 coin?
Norman Sillman designed the dragon passant reverse. It was one of four heraldic national designs he created for the round pound, used from 1994 to 2002, alongside the Scottish lion rampant, the Celtic Cross and Torc and the Three Lions.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.