2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 Coin
The 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 79.3 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2014
- Circulation mintage
- 79,305,200
- 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 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 worth?
With 79.3 million made, the 2014 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 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 rare?
- No. 79.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 coins were made?
- 79,305,200 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2014 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 2014 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 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was made
In the March 2014 Budget, the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced that the round pound would be replaced with a new 12-sided coin. The reason was counterfeiting. The Royal Mint estimated that roughly one in thirty round pounds in circulation was fake. The coin's simple design and single metal made it relatively easy to copy. A new pound with modern security features, harder to copy and easier to check, was promised for 2017.
Meanwhile, the existing coin still had to meet demand. In 2014 that meant a very large run of Matthew Dent's shield. The Royal Mint struck 79,305,200 shield pounds dated 2014 for circulation, the highest total of any shield year. The floral pounds for Scotland and Northern Ireland were issued in the same year in much smaller numbers. Huge as it was, the 2014 run had a short life ahead of it. Within three years the 12-sided pound was in circulation. Round pounds were being handed in to banks by the bagful. Many 2014 shields were melted down after their withdrawal.
How to recognize it
The reverse is Matthew Dent's shield of the Royal Arms with ONE POUND beneath, unchanged from 2008. Its quarters show the lions of England twice, the lion rampant of Scotland and the Irish harp, with no crown or supporters around the shield. Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen is on the obverse along with the date 2014. The edge reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN, the phrase from Virgil that English coins have carried since the seventeenth century. A 2014 coin with a thistle, bluebell, flax or shamrock is one of the floral pounds, so check carefully which design you have.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 ranks 32nd lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2002 Three Lions £1 (77.8 million); the next more common is the 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 (89.9 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 5.6 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 85 times fewer than this one.
2014 brought 2 other circulating £1 coin designs: the Thistle and Bluebell (5.18 million) and the Flax and Shamrock (5.78 million). The 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was the most plentiful of the year.
What to check on your 2014 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 over 79 million, the 2014 is the most common of the circulating shield years. A worn example has no collector premium and is useful only to fill a date in a run. It is also a good coin to study if you want to learn what a genuine round pound looks like, because so many survive. Hold a known good 2014 next to a doubtful coin: compare the sharpness of the lions, the depth and spacing of the edge letters, the color of the metal and the way the reverse lines up with the portrait.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2014 |
| Circulation mintage | 79,305,200 |
| 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 2014 £1 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 Flax and Shamrock £1 Coin | 5,780,000 | Face value |
| 2014 Thistle and Bluebell £1 Coin | 5,185,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Why was the round pound replaced?
Counterfeiting. The Royal Mint estimated that roughly one in thirty round pounds in circulation was fake. The 2014 Budget announced a new 12-sided coin with security features, which entered circulation on 28 March 2017.
Is the 2014 pound coin worth keeping?
Only as a keepsake or to fill a date set. The 2014 shield pound had the highest circulation mintage of any shield year, 79,305,200, so it is very common and carries no special rarity.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.