2015 Clark Portrait 20p Coin
The 2015 Clark Portrait 20p is a 20p coin struck for circulation with 131.3 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2015
- Circulation mintage
- 131,250,000
- 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 2015 Clark Portrait 20p worth?
131.3 million were made, so the 2015 Clark Portrait 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 2015 Clark Portrait 20p rare?
- No. 131.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2015 Clark Portrait 20p coins were made?
- 131,250,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2015 Clark Portrait 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 2015 Clark Portrait 20p still legal tender?
- Yes. Every 20p, including the undated 2008 coin, is legal tender in the UK.
The 2015 20p coin in context
Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II arrived on British coins in 2015 and the 20p was one of the first to carry it. Clark was a Royal Mint engraver. His design was chosen to show the Queen as she looked in her late eighties. It was the fifth and, as it turned out, last portrait of her reign on circulating coins, following those of Mary Gillick, Arnold Machin, Raphael Maklouf and Ian Rank-Broadley.
The Royal Mint struck 131,250,000 Clark portrait 20ps dated 2015, a little more than twice the 63,175,000 made with the outgoing Rank-Broadley portrait. The following year the figure jumped again, to 212,625,000, the highest for any 20p since the 1982 launch. Clark's portrait would remain on the 20p until the end of the reign, through the sets-only years of 2017 and 2018 and the lean pandemic years that followed. The 2015 coin is where that last chapter of the Queen's 20ps begins. It is also the more common of the two 2015 versions, so it's the one you are most likely to meet first.
How to recognize it
Clark's Queen faces right and wears the George IV State Diadem, the same headpiece Maklouf had shown thirty years earlier, with crosses and sprays of roses, thistles and shamrocks. His initials JC sit below the neck and the date is in the legend. The reverse is Matthew Dent's section of the Royal Shield with TWENTY PENCE. Size and alloy are the standard 21.4 mm, 5 g and cupronickel, with seven curved sides and a plain edge. Next to the Rank-Broadley coin the Clark portrait looks older and the jeweled diadem catches the eye straight away. The same portrait went onto every circulating denomination from that year.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2015 Clark Portrait 20p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2015 Clark Portrait 20p ranks 31st lowest of 41 20p dates and varieties from 1982 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2019 20p (125.1 million); the next more common is the 1989 20p (132 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1982 20p with 740.8 million, about 5.6 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 20p with 525,000, 250 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 2015 output was 1.3 times fewer than 2014 and 1.6 times fewer than 2016. Other 2015 20p coins: 2015 Rank-Broadley Portrait 20p (63.2 million).
Over the 2010s the Mint produced 1.15 billion 20p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2015 Clark Portrait 20p accounts for 11% of that.
What to check on your 2015 Clark Portrait 20p
- Confirm the date and the variety (clark portrait). 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.
This is a common coin and circulated examples are face value. Its interest is as the first year of the fifth portrait, which makes it a natural partner for the 2015 Rank-Broadley 20p. Most collectors keep one of each. In change, look at the diadem and the hair below it for wear, since those are the highest points. Uncirculated coins came in the 2015 annual sets and are the simplest way to get a sharp example of the new portrait.
Matthew Dent's Royal Shield twenty pence (2008 to 2022)
In 2008 every coin from 1p to 50p got a new reverse for the first time since decimalization. The Royal Mint had run an open competition and the winner was Matthew Dent, a young graphic designer whose idea was a jigsaw. He cut the Royal Shield into pieces and gave one to each coin, so the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p laid out together rebuild the whole shield, while the round pound of the period showed it complete. The 20p carries its segment of the shield with TWENTY PENCE written in words. There is no numeral and no date on this side.
With the date gone from the reverse it had to move to the portrait side, which meant a new obverse die as well. That change caused the famous undated 20p of 2008: some coins were struck with the new shield reverse and the old obverse, so neither side shows a year. The coin itself stayed the same, seven-sided, 21.4 mm, 5 g and cupronickel. Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait ran until 2015, when Jody Clark's took over, so 2015 comes in two versions. Output swung widely: past 190 million in 2011, past 212 million in 2016, then nothing for change in 2017 or 2018.
For most shield 20ps the only question is condition, since they were made in huge numbers. A few things deserve a second look. First, turn every shield 20p over and make sure a date appears somewhere; if it doesn't, you have the undated mule. Second, the pandemic and the fall in cash use pushed output right down, with 32,725,000 in 2020 and only 19,600,000 in 2021. Third, 2017 and 2018 exist only in sets. Check the portrait on any 2015 coin, since the Rank-Broadley version is the smaller of the two.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 20 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2015 |
| Circulation mintage | 131,250,000 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (84% copper, 16% nickel) |
| Weight | 5.0 g |
| Diameter | 21.4 mm |
| Shape | Seven-sided (equilateral curve heptagon) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Clark |
Other 2015 20p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 Rank-Broadley Portrait 20p Coin | 63,175,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
How can you spot the Clark portrait on a 2015 20p?
Look for the initials JC under the Queen's neck and a diadem with crosses on her head. The Rank-Broadley version shows the initials IRB and a tiara without crosses, so the two are easy to separate.
Was Jody Clark's portrait the last of Queen Elizabeth II?
Yes. It was used on circulating coins from 2015 until the end of her reign. King Charles III's portrait by Martin Jennings replaced it on 20ps dated 2023, along with a new puffin reverse.
Mintage figures: Twenty pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.