1974 1p Coin

Quick answers

Is the 1974 1p rare?

No. 330.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.

How many 1974 1p coins were made?

330,892,000 were struck for circulation.

What is the 1974 1p made of?

Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin). It weighs 3.56 g and measures 20.32 mm.

Is the 1974 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.

How to recognize it

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

The 1974 1p is round, 20.32 mm across and bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin).

1974 1p by the numbers

By the numbers, the 1974 1p ranks 23rd lowest of 51 1p dates and varieties from 1971 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1995 1p (303.3 million); the next more common is the 2016 1p (368.5 million).

For scale, the most common is the 1971 1p with 1.52 billion, about 4.6 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 1p with 600,000, 551 times fewer than this one.

Compared with the dates around it, the 1974 output was 1.2 times the 1973 figure and 1.5 times the 1975 figure.

Over the 1970s the Mint produced 3.69 billion pennies across 9 dates and varieties; the 1974 1p accounts for 9.0% of that.

What to check on your 1974 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.

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