2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 Coin
The 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 57.1 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2010
- Circulation mintage
- 57,120,000
- 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 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 worth?
With 57.1 million made, the 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £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 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 rare?
- No. 57.1 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 coins were made?
- 57,120,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £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 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £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 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was made
In 2010 the round pound had company. The Royal Mint launched a new series honoring the capital cities of the United Kingdom, with London and Belfast arriving that year. Special designs like these grab the headlines, but they were never meant to carry the weight of everyday commerce. That job fell to Matthew Dent's shield, which kept rolling off the presses in huge numbers while the city coins were struck in the low millions.
The 2010 shield run reached 57,120,000 coins for circulation, more than twenty times the London pound of the same year. It was one of the biggest shield years, beaten only by 2014. Those coins went straight into banks, shops, vending machines and parking meters, which is where round pounds lived until the end. Because they worked so hard, 2010 shields that turn up today are usually well worn, with the lions rubbed flat and the edge milling softened. Many were simply handed in at banks when the round pound was withdrawn in October 2017, so plenty of them were melted down rather than kept.
How to recognize it
The reverse is Matthew Dent's complete shield of the Royal Arms, with ONE POUND beneath. In the four quarters you will find the lions of England in two corners, the Scottish lion standing on its hind legs and the Irish harp. No crown sits above it, which separates it from Royal Arms designs. The date 2010 is on the obverse alongside Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait. On the edge, look for DECUS ET TUTAMEN. If the edge reads DOMINE DIRIGE NOS or PRO TANTO QUID RETRIBUAMUS instead, you are holding one of the 2010 capital cities pounds, not a shield. Check the reverse again.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 ranks 27th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 1997 Three Lions £1 (57.1 million); the next more common is the 2003 Royal Arms £1 (61.6 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 7.8 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 61 times fewer than this one.
It shared 2010 with 2 other circulating £1 coin designs: the London (2.63 million) and the Belfast (6.21 million). The 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was the most plentiful of the year.
What to check on your 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1
- Read the edge. It should say DECUS ET TUTAMEN; 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.
Over 57 million made means this is about as common as round pounds get. A circulated coin has no premium and collectors only want it to fill a gap in a date set. That said, the 2010 annual sets put clean examples alongside the London and Belfast coins, which makes a tidy group of the year's three designs. A good test of any loose shield is its edge. On a genuine coin the lettering is crisp and evenly spaced. On many fakes the letters are shallow, crowded or crooked. Sometimes the inscription is not one used on a real coin at all.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2010 |
| Circulation mintage | 57,120,000 |
| Composition | Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel) |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
| Diameter | 22.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: DECUS ET TUTAMEN |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Other 2010 £1 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 London £1 Coin | 2,635,000 | Small premium |
| 2010 Belfast £1 Coin | 6,205,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
How many 2010 £1 coins were made?
For the shield design, 57,120,000 were struck for circulation. The year also produced two capital cities pounds, London with 2,635,000 and Belfast with 6,205,000, so the shield was by far the most common 2010 pound.
Is the 2010 shield pound still legal tender?
No. All round pounds lost legal tender status on 15 October 2017, after the 12-sided pound had been in circulation since 28 March that year. A 2010 shield is now a keepsake rather than spending money.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.