Hazel Dormouse 1p (2023 to 2025)

The dormouse penny is sought after because so few were struck for circulation, and a 2023 coin without the privy mark is the version collectors hope to find. The 2023 set coins with the Tudor Crown privy mark sell above face value too, as do the 2024 and 2025 coins, which were made only for brilliant uncirculated and proof sets. Condition matters for all of them, and an unhandled coin with clean detail on the dormouse commands the best prices.

600,000 Hazel Dormouse 1ps were struck for circulation in 2023 but have not been released, so the Hazel Dormouse 1p has no rarity rank.

Look for a curled-up dormouse, tail over its head, resting on leaves on the right, with a large 1 above PENNY on a panel of interlocking Cs at the left. King Charles III faces left on the other side, inside the legend CHARLES III DEI GRA REX FID DEF with the date. Circulation strikes are dated 2023 and have no privy mark, while the 2023 set coins carry a small Tudor Crown beside the portrait. The 2024 and 2025 dates exist only in sets.

Known varieties of the Hazel Dormouse 1p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• Tudor Crown privy mark (2023 sets): The 2023 coins in brilliant uncirculated and proof sets carry a Tudor Crown privy mark on the obverse; circulation coins do not.

The hazel dormouse suits the smallest coin: The Royal Mint picked it partly because it is a small animal for the lowest denomination. It lives mostly in southern England, in counties such as Sussex, Devon and Kent, and its UK population has halved since 2007, although reintroductions across the country aim to reverse the decline. The design shows the dormouse hibernating, curled up with its tail over its head, lying on leaves with another leaf beneath. The right two-thirds of the coin hold the animal, and the left third carries a large 1 above PENNY over a background of three interlocking Cs repeated, taken from the cypher on Charles II's coins. It belongs to the eight nature reverses for the King's first definitive coins, created by The Royal Mint's product design team with its advisory committee and outside artists, and approved by the King. On the obverse is the King as portrayed by Martin Jennings. A small circulation run of 2023 pennies was struck, but the coin is not yet in circulation and will enter it only when there is demand.