1971 1p Coin
The 1971 1p is a 1p coin struck for circulation with 1.52 billion made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1971
- Circulation mintage
- 1,521,666,250
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin)
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 1971 1p worth?
1.52 billion were made, so the 1971 1p is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
What would make yours worth more:
- Full original red or bright color
- A coin from a sets-only year
- A recognized variety or genuine error
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1971 1p rare?
- No. 1.52 billion were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1971 1p coins were made?
- 1,521,666,250 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1971 1p made of?
- Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin). It weighs 3.56 g and measures 20.32 mm.
- Is the 1971 1p still legal tender?
- Yes. The 1p is legal tender, though 1p and 2p coins together only have to be accepted for payments up to 20p.
The 1971 1p coin in context
Decimal Day fell on Monday 15 February 1971 and the penny was at the center of it. Under the old system a pound held 240 pence. Overnight it held 100, so each new penny was worth 2.4 old ones. Shops pinned up conversion charts, the banks closed for several days beforehand to switch over their books and the bronze 1p, 2p and half penny went out in change for the first time that morning.
Because the whole country needed pennies at once, the Royal Mint struck them in staggering numbers. The 1971 date has a mintage of 1,521,666,250, the largest of any decimal penny. The mint had opened a new plant at Llantrisant in South Wales in 1968 largely to handle the extra work of decimalization. Stocks were so large that no 1972 pennies were needed for circulation at all, which is why that date only exists in proof sets. The 1971 coin carried the load for two years. More than fifty years later it is still the penny you are most likely to pull from an old jar of coppers.
How to recognize it
Christopher Ironside's reverse shows a crowned portcullis with chains, the badge of the Tudor king Henry VII and a symbol long tied to the Palace of Westminster. NEW PENNY runs above it and a bold numeral 1 sits below. Arnold Machin's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, wearing a tiara, is on the obverse with ELIZABETH II D G REG F D and the date. The coin is bronze, 20.32 mm across and 3.56 g, with a plain edge. Ironside's designs had been through a long selection process in the 1960s, so by 1971 the public had already met his work on the 5p and 10p. The penny's design would last, with only a wording change, until 2008.
The other side carries Arnold Machin's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used on UK coins from 1968 to 1984.
1971 1p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1971 1p is the most common of 51 1p dates and varieties from 1971 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2000 1p (1.06 billion).
Compared with the dates around it, the 1971 output was 5.4 times the 1973 figure.
Over the 1970s the Mint produced 3.69 billion pennies across 9 dates and varieties; the 1971 1p accounts for 41% of that.
What to check on your 1971 1p
- Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Try a magnet: bronze 1p coins do not stick to it. A coin that sticks is copper-plated steel from 1992 or later, so read the date again.
- 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.
With more than one and a half billion struck, a worn 1971 penny is face value and turns up in almost every old coin jar. That doesn't make it dull. As the first year of the decimal penny it is the natural starting point for a date run. Proofs from the 1971 sets are easy to obtain. Coins pulled from change that still show full red color are scarcer and can carry a small premium. Brown coins with even wear are normal; patchy pink ones have usually been cleaned.
Bronze NEW PENNY with the Machin portrait (1971 to 1981)
The decimal penny arrived on 15 February 1971, Decimal Day, when Britain dropped the old pound of 240 pence and adopted a pound of 100 new ones. The 5p, 10p and 50p were already in people's pockets, so it was the bronze half penny, penny and 2p that made the switch feel real at the shop counter. To stop anyone mixing them up with the big old pennies, the new coins carried the word NEW. Every penny in this period reads NEW PENNY above a large numeral 1.
Christopher Ironside designed the reverse: a crowned portcullis with chains hanging from it, a royal badge long linked with Westminster. Arnold Machin's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a tiara fills the other side, with ELIZABETH II D G REG F D and the date around it. The coin is bronze, an alloy of 97 percent copper, 2.5 percent zinc and 0.5 percent tin. It measures 20.32 mm across, weighs 3.56 g and has a plain edge. A magnet will not pick it up.
Mintages ran into the hundreds of millions almost every year, so 1970s pennies still turn up in jars and old money tins all the time. The big exception is 1972, which was struck only for proof sets after the vast 1971 run had filled the banks. Apart from that date, worn coins are face value. What lifts one above the crowd is condition. A penny with bright original red luster, a crisp portcullis and sharp chain links is far harder to find than the date alone suggests, because most were spent for years. Brown, worn or cleaned coins are the normal find.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 penny |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1971 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,521,666,250 |
| Composition | Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin) |
| Weight | 3.56 g |
| Diameter | 20.32 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Machin |
Frequently asked questions
Is a 1971 new penny rare?
No. The Royal Mint struck 1,521,666,250 of them, more than any other penny date. A worn one is face value. Only a coin with full original red color and sharp detail draws interest from collectors. Even then it is only a small premium.
Why does the 1971 penny say NEW PENNY?
The word NEW told people the coin belonged to the decimal system and was worth 2.4 of the old pennies. It stayed on the penny until 1981. From 1982 the wording changed to ONE PENNY, which is still the easiest way to separate early and later bronze coins.
Mintage figures: Penny (British decimal coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.