1981 10p Coin

Quick answers

Is the 1981 10p rare?

It is scarcer than most 10p coins. Collectors pay a small premium for good examples.

How many 1981 10p coins were made?

3,487,000 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1981 10p made of?

Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 11.31 g and measures 28.5 mm.

Is the 1981 10p still legal tender?

No. The original large 10p stopped being legal tender in 1993, after the smaller coin arrived in 1992. Collectors still keep scarce dates.

How to recognize it

The 1981 coin is identical in design to the 1968 original. Christopher Ironside's crowned lion fills the reverse with NEW PENCE above and the numeral 10 below. Arnold Machin's portrait of the Queen in a tiara is on the obverse with the date in the legend. It is the large cupronickel 10p, 28.5 mm and 11.31 g with a milled edge, the same size as a florin. Nothing on the coin marks it as special. Reading the date is the only way to spot it, so check every large NEW PENCE 10p that passes through your hands. Worn dates can be faint, so use good light.

The other side carries Arnold Machin's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used on UK coins from 1968 to 1984.

1981 10p by the numbers

Measured by how many were made, the 1981 10p ranks 2nd lowest of 40 10p dates and varieties from 1968 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2023 10p (600,000); the next more common is the 2008 Old Reverse 10p (9.72 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1992 10p with 1.41 billion, about 405 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 10p with 600,000, 5.8 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1981 output was 25 times fewer than 1980 and 405 times fewer than 1992.

Over the 1980s the Mint produced 92.1 million 10p coins across 10 dates and varieties; the 1981 10p accounts for 3.8% of that.

What to check on your 1981 10p

• Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
• Try a magnet: cupronickel 10p coins like this 1981 coin do not stick, while the steel coins of later years do.
• Look at the surfaces under a light. Coins from sets have unbroken luster and color; change-worn coins are dull and scuffed.
• Never clean it. Rubbing or dipping strips the original color and leaves fine scratches.

This is the large 10p that collectors look for first. A worn 1981 brings a small premium. Coins in sharp, uncirculated condition are genuinely scarce and draw a collector premium, since so few were made and most were spent until 1993. The date also appears in the year's proof set, which is the easiest way to own one in top grade. Check old jars of large 10ps carefully; the date is small and easy to skip past on a worn coin.

The large crowned lion with NEW PENCE (1968 to 1981)

The 10p went into circulation on 23 April 1968 together with the 5p, nearly three years before Britain went decimal on 15 February 1971. It was built as a twin of the florin, the two shilling piece first struck in Victorian times. The new coin matched it exactly at 28.5 mm, 11.31 g and cupronickel, so a 10p could be spent as two shillings before Decimal Day and as ten new pence after it. Florins themselves stayed legal tender alongside the 10p until 1993, so the two shared tills for a quarter of a century.

Christopher Ironside's reverse shows a crowned lion with its head turned to face you, part of the crest of England. NEW PENCE runs above it and a large 10 below. The obverse carries Arnold Machin's portrait of the Queen in a tiara with ELIZABETH II D G REG F D and the date. The alloy is 75% copper and 25% nickel and the edge is milled. At more than 11 g it was a heavy coin even then. A pocketful of them was a real weight.

Demand swung wildly. The launch years of 1968 and 1969 each passed 300 million, but 1972 and 1978 were made only for sets and 1981 dropped to just 3,487,000, the lowest circulation figure of any large 10p. That date is the one to look for. Large 10ps stopped being legal tender in 1993, less than a year after the smaller coin arrived, so none can be spent today. They survive in jars, drawers and old collections, where the crown and mane of the lion are the first places to show wear. Bright, unworn coins of any date are far harder to find than worn ones.

Mintage chart

Specifications

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