Rare £1 Coins: Low Mintage Round Pounds and Fakes

The lowest-mintage round pounds

These are the circulation mintages below about eleven million. Every other circulating round pound was made in far larger numbers, most of them in the tens of millions.

• 2011 Edinburgh: 935,000
• 2011 Cardiff: 1,615,000
• 2010 London: 2,635,000
• 2008 Royal Arms: 3,910,000
• 2014 Thistle and Bluebell: 5,185,000
• 2013 Rose and Oak and 2013 Leek and Daffodil: 5,270,000 each
• 2014 Flax and Shamrock: 5,780,000
• 2010 Belfast: 6,205,000
• 1988 Shield of the Royal Arms: 7,118,825
• 1986 Flax Plant: 10,409,501

The 15 lowest mintage circulating £1 coins

Round pounds stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017.

Pounds struck only for collector sets

The capital cities of 2010 and 2011

The four capital city coins are where the real scarcity lies. Each shows a city's coat of arms with its motto on the edge. London and Belfast came out in 2010, Cardiff and Edinburgh in 2011. Belfast is the common one at 6,205,000. London, at 2,635,000, is a good find. Cardiff and Edinburgh are the two to hunt for.

Edinburgh is the only round pound struck for circulation in fewer than a million. Check that the edge reads NISI DOMINUS FRUSTRA and the date is 2011. For Cardiff, the edge should read Y DDRAIG GOCH DDYRY CYCHWYN, the Welsh motto meaning the red dragon will lead the way.

The 2008 Royal Arms and the floral coins

In 2008 the Royal Mint introduced Matthew Dent's Shield of the Royal Arms and struck 43,827,300 of it. The old ornamental Royal Arms was made that year too, but only 3,910,000 times. Check the date carefully: the same design from 1983, 1993 or 2003 was struck in huge numbers and is ordinary.

The floral series of 2013 and 2014 pairs national plants: rose and oak for England, leek and daffodil for Wales, then flax and shamrock for Northern Ireland and thistle and bluebell for Scotland. All four were struck in quantities of just over five million. Thistle and Bluebell is the lowest at 5,185,000.

Collector-only round pounds

Some dates never went into circulation at all. The 1998 Royal Arms and 1999 Lion Rampant were made only for collector sets. So were the 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms with the Jody Clark portrait (75,000 in brilliant uncirculated packs), the 2016 Shield of the Royal Arms (30,000) and the 2016 Last Round Pound with its four heraldic beasts.

The 2015 date needs care. A 2015 Shield with the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait is a circulation coin with 29,580,000 made. Only the Jody Clark version is the collector issue. And because the 1998 and 1999 coins came from sets, one that looks heavily worn is unusual enough to check closely.

How to spot a fake round pound

Counterfeits were common enough to end the round pound, so check any scarce date before you get excited. Use these checks together. A fake often fails two or three of them at once.

• Date and design: each design was used only in certain years, so an Edinburgh or Cardiff with any date other than 2011 is wrong
• Edge: the inscription must match the design, with crisp, evenly spaced letters
• Alignment: turn the coin over from side to side; on a genuine coin the reverse is the right way up, in line with the portrait
• Color and detail: fakes often look too yellow or too dull, with soft, blurry detail on the portrait
• Milling: the grooves on the edge should be fine and even all the way around

What a rare round pound is good for now

Since 15 October 2017 no round pound has been legal tender, so even a common one can't buy anything in a shop. That works in a scarce coin's favor: nobody is spending them back into circulation any more. In circulated condition the Edinburgh and Cardiff bring a small premium. Sharp, unmarked examples and the collector-only packs reach a collector premium. Ordinary dates are worth face value at best, which in practice means a deposit at a bank that still takes them.

Frequently asked questions