1990 Leek £1 Coin
The 1990 Leek £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 97.3 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1990
- Circulation mintage
- 97,269,302
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% 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 1990 Leek £1 worth?
With 97.3 million made, the 1990 Leek £1 is common. It has no collector value beyond the pound itself. Since 15 October 2017 the round pound can no longer be spent in shops. Only uncirculated coins from sets, genuine errors and the scarce dates bring more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with crisp edge lettering
- Original Royal Mint pack or set
- A genuine mint error confirmed by an expert
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1990 Leek £1 rare?
- No. 97.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1990 Leek £1 coins were made?
- 97,269,302 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1990 Leek £1 made of?
- Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel). It weighs 9.5 g and measures 22.5 mm.
- Is the 1990 Leek £1 still legal tender?
- No. The round pound stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017. It can no longer be spent in shops; collectors still want the scarce dates.
Why the 1990 Leek £1 was made
The Welsh leek came back for 1990 as the rotation reached Wales for the second time. Leslie Durbin's design was reused unchanged and so was the Maklouf portrait that had first appeared on the 1985 Leek. That makes 1990 one of the few repeat years where the coin really does look the same as its earlier twin on both sides. Only the date tells them apart. Durbin's series had two more years to run after this one, with the Flax Plant in 1991 and the Oak Tree in 1992.
The circulation mintage was 97,269,302. That is a big number in absolute terms, the seventh highest among round pounds up to 2007, though less than half the 1985 figure. By now the pound coin was firmly part of daily life, used in shops, ticket machines and vending machines across the country. The coin follows the standard round pound pattern of 22.5 mm, 9.5 g and nickel-brass. Wales kept its own edge inscription, which carried on through every Welsh design until the 2005 Menai Bridge coin of the bridges series replaced lettering with a pattern.
How to recognize it
A tall leek rises through a royal diadem on the reverse, with ONE POUND below. On the obverse is Maklouf's portrait of the Queen in a diadem, identical to 1985. The edge is lettered PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD, "true am I to my country", from the Welsh anthem. Since 1985 and 1990 match in design, portrait and edge, the date on your coin is the deciding detail. Read it under good light: worn digits can be hard to make out and a 1985 and a 1990 coin can look surprisingly similar once the figures are rubbed. A magnifier helps, especially on the last digit, which wears unevenly on some coins.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1990 Leek £1 by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 1990 Leek £1 ranks 34th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 (89.9 million); the next more common is the 2005 Menai Straits Bridge £1 (99.4 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 4.6 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 104 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 1990.
What to check on your 1990 Leek £1
- Read the edge. It should say PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD; an edge that doesn't match the design is the quickest sign of a fake.
- Turn the coin over on its vertical axis: on a genuine pound the design side is the same way up as the portrait. A tilted or upside-down reverse points to a copy.
- Weigh it: a genuine round pound weighs 9.5 g. Fakes are often light, soft in detail or a slightly different color.
- Remember that round pounds stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017, so a common one has no use in shops.
Close to 97.3 million were made, so the 1990 Leek is very common. Circulated examples are face value coins. Date collectors want one, but there is no premium for ordinary wear and only bright, unmarked pieces stand out. When counterfeit pounds were circulating in large numbers, a careless copy could show misspelled or badly formed edge letters, so read the Welsh wording closely. Coins from Royal Mint sets have full luster and sharp detail on the leaf tips, which is what sets them apart.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1990 |
| Circulation mintage | 97,269,302 |
| Composition | Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel) |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
| Diameter | 22.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Frequently asked questions
Are the 1985 and 1990 Leek pounds the same?
Yes in design. Both have Leslie Durbin's leek, Maklouf's portrait and the Welsh edge inscription. The difference is the date and the numbers made: 228,430,749 in 1985 against 97,269,302 in 1990. Neither is scarce.
Can you still spend a 1990 £1 coin?
Not in shops. All round pounds, including the 1990 Leek, stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017 when the 12-sided pound replaced them. Some UK banks may still accept them as a deposit into an account, so ask yours.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.