Crowned portcullis (ONE PENNY) 1p (1982 to 2008)

The ONE PENNY 1p was struck in vast numbers, and worn coins of every date trade at face value. Collector premiums come from the details: the bronze 1992 penny from proof and brilliant uncirculated sets, the bronze 1999 proof, and the rivet and bead-count varieties that specialists sort by year. The first date, 1982, had the smallest circulation run. Uncirculated coins that keep their original colour are the ones that sell above face value.

With 14,170,503,160 struck for circulation, the Crowned portcullis (ONE PENNY) 1p is the third rarest of the 3 ranked 1p designs and has the 194th lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.

No 1p design has a higher circulation mintage. The next rarer is the Royal Shield 1p, with 4,414,119,846 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 1982, with 100,292,000 struck.

Look for the crowned portcullis with ONE PENNY above, a 1 below and a beaded border. A magnet tells the metal: bronze pennies, dated up to 1992, do not stick, and steel ones from September 1992 do. Every 1992 circulation penny is steel, so a bronze 1992 coin came from a set. Specialists also check the rivets where the bars cross, raised dots or sunken circles, and the number of border beads, which differs between the 1998 to 1999 coins and the 2000 to 2008 coins.

Known varieties of the Crowned portcullis (ONE PENNY) 1p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• Dot rivets and circle rivets: The bolts where the portcullis bars cross are raised dots on one reverse die and sunken circles on another. Dots appear on coins of 1982 to 1994 and 2007 to 2008, circles on coins of 1992 to 2007. In several years the circulation coins and the set coins used different types.
• Border bead count: Three reverse bead counts exist (110, 113 and 109 beads), which change where the P of PENNY and the numeral 1 point against the beads. Coins of 1998 to 1999 have 113 reverse beads and coins of 2000 to 2008 have 109.
• 1992 bronze set coin: The 1992 1p from proof and brilliant uncirculated sets is bronze and not magnetic; every 1992 circulation 1p is magnetic copper-plated steel.

The penny lost the word NEW in 1982 and began to read ONE PENNY above the portcullis, at the same point as the 2p dropped NEW PENCE. Ironside's crowned portcullis with its hanging chains, the numeral 1 and the beaded border all stayed. Unlike the 2p, the penny was struck for circulation in every year of the run, with Arnold Machin's portrait until 1984, Raphael Maklouf's from 1985 and Ian Rank-Broadley's from 1998. In September 1992 rising metal prices ended the bronze penny, and coins were now made of copper-plated steel, slightly thicker and magnetic, though the 1992 set coins and the 1999 proof penny were still bronze. Over such a long run the reverse dies changed in small ways. The bolts where the portcullis bars cross appear as raised dots on some dies and sunken circles on others, and the ring of beads was cut with three different counts. The portcullis penny ended in 2008, struck in its last year beside Matthew Dent's new shield 1p.