2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 Coin
The 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 29.6 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2015
- Circulation mintage
- 29,580,000
- 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 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 worth?
With 29.6 million made, the 2015 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 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 rare?
- No. 29.6 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 coins were made?
- 29,580,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2015 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 2015 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 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was made
In 1998 Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen replaced Raphael Maklouf's on British coins. It became the fourth portrait of her reign to appear on the coinage and stayed in use for seventeen years. In 2015 it gave way to a new portrait by Jody Clark, a Royal Mint engraver, which meant that 2015 coins were struck with two different portraits.
This shield pound carries the older Rank-Broadley portrait. The Royal Mint struck 29,580,000 for circulation, making it a solid working year for the design. It was the last shield pound issued for circulation, because later coins with the new portrait used either a new Royal Arms design for circulation or appeared only in collector sets. That makes the 2015 fourth portrait shield a neat end point for anyone assembling the shield series from 2008. It also marks the close of the Rank-Broadley era on the round pound, a portrait that had appeared on every round pound for those seventeen years, from the bridges of the 2000s to the floral emblems.
How to recognize it
The reverse is Matthew Dent's shield of the Royal Arms with ONE POUND beneath. The key detail is on the obverse. Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait shows the Queen wearing a tiara with his initials IRB under the neck. The new 2015 portrait by Jody Clark shows her in the diadem worn for the State Opening of Parliament and is signed JC. So if your 2015 shield pound has IRB and the tiara, this is your coin. The edge reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN. A 2015 coin with the full coat of arms, lion and unicorn included, is the Royal Arms pound instead.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 ranks 16th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (27.6 million); the next more common is the 1994 Lion Rampant £1 (29.8 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 released in 2015 alongside 1 other circulating £1 coin design: the Royal Arms (129.6 million). The 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was the scarcest of the year.
What to check on your 2015 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 about 29.6 million, this is a common coin. Worn examples have no special premium, though collectors like it as the last circulating shield and the last Rank-Broadley round pound. A crisp example from a 2015 annual set is the best way to show the portrait detail. Make sure you have the right portrait: a Jody Clark portrait on a shield reverse means the collector version, not this one. Fakes of shield pounds exist, so check that the portrait is sharp, the edge evenly lettered and the color consistent with your other pounds.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2015 |
| Circulation mintage | 29,580,000 |
| 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 2015 £1 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 Coin (Sets Only) | Collector issue | Small premium |
| 2015 Royal Arms £1 Coin | 129,616,985 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Why are there two 2015 shield pound coins?
The Queen's portrait changed during 2015. This version uses Ian Rank-Broadley's fourth portrait and was issued for circulation, with 29,580,000 struck. A second version with Jody Clark's new fifth portrait was made only for collectors.
How do I tell which portrait my 2015 pound has?
Look under the Queen's neck. IRB means Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait, where she wears a tiara. JC means Jody Clark's portrait, introduced during 2015, which shows her wearing a diadem instead.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.