2016 10p Coin

Quick answers

Is the 2016 10p rare?

No. 135.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 2016 10p coins were made?

135,380,000 were struck for circulation.

What is the 2016 10p made of?

Nickel-plated steel. It weighs 6.5 g and measures 24.5 mm.

Is the 2016 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 Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.

The 2016 10p is round, 24.5 mm across and nickel-plated steel.

2016 10p by the numbers

In mintage terms the 2016 10p ranks 32nd lowest of 40 10p dates and varieties from 1968 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2000 10p (134.7 million); the next more common is the 1973 10p (152.2 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1992 10p with 1.41 billion, about 10 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 10p with 600,000, 226 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 2016 output was 1.5 times the 2015 figure and 4.1 times the 2017 figure.

Over the 2010s the Mint produced 1.36 billion 10p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2016 10p accounts for 10.0% of that.

What to check on your 2016 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: 2016 10p coins are nickel-plated steel and stick to it.
• 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.

Matthew Dent's shield ten pence (2008 to 2022)

Matthew Dent's designs reached the 10p in 2008, the first new reverse for the coin in forty years. His winning entry in the Royal Mint's open competition split the Royal Shield of Arms into six sections spread across the coins from 1p to 50p. Laid out in the right order they make the complete shield, which the round pound of the time carried whole. The 10p's piece reads TEN PENCE in words, with no numeral anywhere on the coin. The crowned lion that had been on every 10p since 1968 was retired.

Two physical changes followed. From the 2011 date the 10p switched from solid cupronickel to nickel-plated steel, a cheaper metal that keeps the same 24.5 mm and 6.5 g but is a touch thicker and sticks to a magnet. Then in 2015 Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait gave way to Jody Clark's, which shows the Queen in the George IV State Diadem with JC beneath the neck, so 2015 comes with both portraits. Output swung hard. The 2012 date was just 11,600,030, while 2013 and 2014 passed 320 million and 490 million.

Cash use fell away after 2016. Only 33,300,000 were struck in 2017. The 2018 and 2019 dates were made only for sets, because the circulating 10ps of those years were the A to Z coins with letters of the alphabet. Production returned in 2020 at lower levels than before. For collectors the dates to watch are 2012, 2017 and the two sets-only years. Every other shield 10p is common and face value in worn condition. Use a magnet to sort the cupronickel coins of 2008 to 2010 from the steel ones that followed.

Mintage chart

Specifications