2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 Coin
The 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 35.7 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2012
- Circulation mintage
- 35,700,030
- 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 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 worth?
With 35.7 million made, the 2012 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 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 rare?
- No. 35.7 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 coins were made?
- 35,700,030 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2012 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 2012 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 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was made
2012 was a huge year for Britain. The Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, sixty years on the throne. London hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Royal Mint marked both with special coins, among them a Diamond Jubilee crown and a £2 marking the handover of the Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro. A £2 honoring Charles Dickens appeared too. The round pound took no part in any of this celebration.
Instead, the only round £1 design struck for circulation in 2012 was Matthew Dent's shield, now in its fifth year. Production came to 35,700,030 coins. That is the figure the Royal Mint gives for circulation. The coins joined a round pound population that was by then very large and increasingly troubled by fakes, so new coins mostly replaced worn ones rather than growing the total. Like other shield years, the 2012 pounds stayed in use until withdrawal in 2017. Many were returned to banks in the final months and taken out of circulation for good.
How to recognize it
On the reverse you will find the plain shield of the Royal Arms with ONE POUND beneath it, exactly as on every shield pound from 2008 to 2015. The lions of England sit in two quarters, the Scottish lion and Irish harp in the others. The date 2012 is on the obverse, which also carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen and the legend in Latin abbreviations. The edge is lettered DECUS ET TUTAMEN. Matthew Dent designed the reverse. Because nothing on the shield side identifies the year, collectors always turn the coin over first to check the date in the legend.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 ranks 19th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 1995 Dragon £1 (34.5 million); the next more common is the 1992 Oak Tree £1 (36.3 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 12 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 38 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 2012.
What to check on your 2012 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.
At almost 36 million, the 2012 shield is a middling year for the design and a common coin. Worn examples are face value pieces in collecting terms. A sharp one from a 2012 annual set is the better choice if you want the year represented in a date run, since circulated pounds from this period often have rubbed lions and nicks on the rim. For fakes, check that the color matches your other pounds, that the edge milling is even and that the Queen's portrait has fine detail in the hair rather than a smooth, blurred look.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2012 |
| Circulation mintage | 35,700,030 |
| 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 |
Frequently asked questions
Was there a special £1 coin for 2012?
No. Despite the Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics, the only £1 design issued for circulation in 2012 was the standard shield of the Royal Arms, with 35,700,030 struck. The special 2012 designs appeared on other denominations.
How do I tell what year my shield pound is?
Look at the portrait side. Shield pounds from 2008 to 2015 have the same reverse. The date sits in the legend around the Queen's head. That is where you will find 2012 on this coin.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.