Royal Shield 1p (2008 to 2022)

Shield pennies from change trade at face value whatever the date, as every circulation year ran to very large numbers. The 2018 and 2019 dates are the exceptions that interest collectors, since they were struck only for brilliant uncirculated and proof sets. Among the circulation years, 2022 had the smallest run and 2021 the next smallest, so unworn examples of those late dates are worth putting aside. Condition counts most for the set coins, which are judged on their finish.

With 4,414,119,846 struck for circulation, the Royal Shield 1p is the second rarest of the 3 ranked 1p designs and has the 191st lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.

The next rarer 1p is the Crowned portcullis (NEW PENNY) 1p, with 4,409,822,250 struck, and the next more common is the Crowned portcullis (ONE PENNY) 1p, with 14,170,503,160 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 2022, with 30,000,000 struck.

Look for a piece of shield running off the left of the coin, with English lions in the upper part and the top of the Irish harp below, and ONE PENNY reading up the left edge. There is no beaded border and no date on this side; the year is on the heads side. Every shield penny is copper-plated steel and magnetic. Circulation dates are 2008 to 2017 and 2020 to 2022, and 2015 pennies carry one of two portraits of the Queen, Rank-Broadley's or Clark's.

Matthew Dent's penny takes the left-hand edge of the Royal Shield of Arms: the lower part of the first quarter, showing part of the lions passant of England, over the upper part of the third quarter, with part of the harp of Ireland. ONE PENNY reads upwards along the left rim, outside the shield, and the initials MD appear on this side. On its own the penny shows only a fragment; set beside the 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p, it helps complete the shield, which the round £1 carried whole. The beading that had framed the portcullis penny was removed from both faces, and the date moved to the obverse. The new pennies entered circulation from mid-2008 in copper-plated steel, with Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen until Jody Clark's arrived in 2015. No 1ps were issued for circulation in 2018 or 2019, when the coin was struck to brilliant uncirculated standard only for the annual sets, but circulation strikes resumed in 2020 and ran to the final shield pennies of 2022.