1997 10p Coin

Quick answers

Is the 1997 10p rare?

No. 99.2 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 1997 10p coins were made?

99,196,000 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1997 10p made of?

Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 6.5 g and measures 24.5 mm.

Is the 1997 10p still legal tender?

Yes. The current-size 10p is legal tender, for payments of up to 5 pounds in 5p and 10p coins.

How to recognize it

The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.

The 1997 10p is round, 24.5 mm across and cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel).

1997 10p by the numbers

By the numbers, the 1997 10p ranks 23rd lowest of 40 10p dates and varieties from 1968 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2010 10p (96.6 million); the next more common is the 2004 10p (99.6 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1992 10p with 1.41 billion, about 14 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 10p with 600,000, 165 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1997 output was 1.2 times fewer than 1996 and 1.4 times fewer than 2000.

Over the 1990s the Mint produced 1.67 billion 10p coins across 10 dates and varieties; the 1997 10p accounts for 5.9% of that.

What to check on your 1997 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 1997 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.

The smaller crowned lion ten pence (1992 to 2008)

The small 10p arrived in September 1992, two years after the 5p was made smaller. The old coin had become too heavy for its value. The new one measured 24.5 mm and weighed 6.5 g, a little over half the weight of the florin-sized piece, though the cupronickel alloy and milled edge stayed the same. To fill the country's tills the Royal Mint struck 1,413,455,170 small 10ps dated 1992, by far the largest 10p figure. The large coins and the last florins ceased to be legal tender at the end of June 1993.

Ironside's crowned lion was reduced to fit, with TEN PENCE and the numeral 10. Raphael Maklouf's portrait, signed RDM, is on the obverse until 1997 and Ian Rank-Broadley's, signed IRB, from 1998. After the huge launch the 10p settled into a pattern of modest output with gaps. 1993, 1994, 1998 and 1999 were struck only for sets. When production for change resumed in 1995 it was just 43,259,000. From 2000 to 2007 it ran between roughly 70 million and 135 million a year.

Next to the busy 5p, the small lion 10p was made in fairly small numbers, so a few dates deserve a look. 1995 is the lowest circulation figure of the Maklouf small 10p. The real prize of the run is the last one. In 2008 only 9,720,000 lion 10ps were struck before Matthew Dent's shield design replaced it, the lowest circulation total of any small lion 10p and one of the three lowest of any 10p. Most dates are face value in worn condition. Uncirculated coins come from the annual sets, which are also the only source for the four sets-only years.

Mintage chart

Specifications