1985 20p Coin
The 1985 20p is a 20p coin struck for circulation with 74.3 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1985
- Circulation mintage
- 74,273,699
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel)
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 1985 20p worth?
74.3 million were made, so the 1985 20p 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:
- Uncirculated condition
- A sets-only date
- A genuine error such as the undated 2008 mule
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1985 20p rare?
- No. 74.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1985 20p coins were made?
- 74,273,699 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1985 20p made of?
- Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel). It weighs 5.0 g and measures 21.4 mm, with a seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) shape.
- Is the 1985 20p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 20p, including the undated 2008 coin, is legal tender in the UK.
The 1985 20p coin in context
For the first three years every 20p showed Arnold Machin's portrait, which had been on British coins since before decimalization. In 1985 the Royal Mint introduced a new likeness of the Queen by Raphael Maklouf. 1985 is the first 20p date to carry it. The update followed the simple fact that the Queen was by then in her late fifties, while Machin's portrait had been made when she was much younger. Every circulating denomination changed portrait at the same time, so the whole of British change began to look different from that year.
The Mint struck 74,273,699 of these coins. That was a modest figure after the vast launch run of 1982 and close to the 65,350,965 of 1984, the last Machin year. The low numbers show that the country was by then well supplied with 20ps. The point was underlined the following year, when the Royal Mint made no 20ps for circulation at all and the 1986 date appeared only in collector sets. That makes 1985 the first Maklouf 20p and the only one before a gap of a year, so a date run built from change jumps straight from 1985 to 1987.
How to recognize it
Raphael Maklouf shows the Queen in profile facing right, wearing the George IV State Diadem, a jeweled band set with crosses and bunches of roses, thistles and shamrocks. His initials RDM sit below the neck. It was the third portrait of the Queen used on British coins, after those of Mary Gillick and Arnold Machin. The reverse is unchanged: William Gardner's crowned double rose with TWENTY PENCE, the figure 20 and the date. Size, weight and alloy match the earlier coins exactly, at 21.4 mm, 5 g and cupronickel with seven curved sides and a plain edge. On a worn coin the outline of the diadem is usually the last detail to fade.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1985 20p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 1985 20p ranks 15th lowest of 41 20p dates and varieties from 1982 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1999 20p (73.5 million); the next more common is the 1998 20p (77 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1982 20p with 740.8 million, about 10 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 20p with 525,000, 141 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1985 output was 1.1 times the 1984 figure and 1.9 times fewer than 1987.
Over the 1980s the Mint produced 1.35 billion 20p coins across 8 dates and varieties; the 1985 20p accounts for 5.5% of that.
What to check on your 1985 20p
- Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Count the sides: a genuine 20p has seven curved sides, measures 21.4 mm and weighs 5 g.
- 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.
A worn 1985 20p is a face value coin. Its role in a collection is as the first year of the Maklouf portrait, which makes it a good companion to the 1984 Machin coin. Put the two side by side and the difference is plain: Machin's Queen wears a tiara, while Maklouf's wears the diadem. Look for clean cheeks and sharp jewels on the diadem, since those high points wear first in change. Uncirculated coins from the 1985 sets are easy to find and give you the portrait at its crispest.
The crowned rose with the Machin and Maklouf portraits (1982 to 1997)
The 20p was launched on 9 June 1982 to sit between the 10p and the 50p. Rising prices had left people paying for everyday things in fistfuls of 10p pieces and a coin worth two of them was the obvious fix. It also arrived in the year British coins stopped saying NEW, so it read TWENTY PENCE from the very first strike. William Gardner's reverse put a crowned double rose at the center, the Tudor emblem uniting Lancaster and York, with the figure 20 and the year on the same face.
Two portraits of the Queen cover these years. Arnold Machin's version, with the Queen in a tiara, was used for just three dates, 1982 to 1984. From 1985 Raphael Maklouf's portrait took over, showing her in the George IV State Diadem with RDM below the neck. Output swung wildly. The launch needed 740,815,000 coins, then the figure fell to 158,463,000 in 1983 and 65,350,965 in 1984. None at all were made for change in 1986. After that, big years such as 1987 and 1989 alternated with lean ones. 1991 and 1992 both came in below 36 million before a rebound to 123,123,750 in 1993.
Physically the coin never changed: seven curved sides of constant width, 21.4 mm, 5 g of cupronickel that is 84% copper and 16% nickel with a plain edge. The dates that reward a search are the sets-only 1986 plus the low runs of 1988, 1991 and 1992. A 1984 Machin coin next to a 1985 Maklouf one makes a neat pair showing the portrait change. On worn coins the rose petals and the arches of the crown go first, so judge condition there. Set coins are the easy way to own these dates unworn.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 20 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1985 |
| Circulation mintage | 74,273,699 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel) |
| Weight | 5.0 g |
| Diameter | 21.4 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Queen's portrait on the 1985 20p?
Raphael Maklouf. His portrait first appeared on the 20p in 1985 and stayed until 1997. You can spot it by the State Diadem on the Queen's head and the initials RDM just below her neck.
Is there a 1986 20p to go with the 1985?
Only in sets. No 1986 20ps were struck for circulation, so in change the 1985 coin is followed by the 1987 coin, which has the same Maklouf portrait and the same crowned rose reverse.
Mintage figures: Twenty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.