1991 Flax Plant £1 Coin
The 1991 Flax Plant £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 38.4 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1991
- Circulation mintage
- 38,443,575
- 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 1991 Flax Plant £1 worth?
With 38.4 million made, the 1991 Flax Plant £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 1991 Flax Plant £1 rare?
- No. 38.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1991 Flax Plant £1 coins were made?
- 38,443,575 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1991 Flax Plant £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 1991 Flax Plant £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 1991 Flax Plant £1 was made
Northern Ireland's flax plant returned for 1991, the second and final year for Leslie Durbin's design. Flax was the raw material of Ulster's linen trade, which grew into one of the region's great industries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with mills in and around Belfast supplying cloth to markets across the world. The plant stands for that working heritage rather than for a heraldic symbol, which sets it slightly apart from the thistle and the royal arms.
The 1991 run was far larger than the first Flax Plant. The Royal Mint struck 38,443,575 for circulation, close to four times the 10,409,501 of 1986. In practice that means most Flax Plant pounds you come across will be 1991 coins. It is the earlier date that collectors hunt for. The 1991 coin carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of the Queen, as the 1986 one did. It was made in the familiar nickel-brass at 22.5 mm and 9.5 g. After this year Northern Ireland's slot passed to a new design, the Celtic Cross and Torc, which first appeared in 1996.
How to recognize it
Durbin's flax plant grows through a royal diadem, its slim stems branching above the band, with ONE POUND underneath. The obverse shows the Queen in Maklouf's diadem portrait. Northern Ireland's coins use DECUS ET TUTAMEN on the edge, the Latin for "an ornament and a safeguard", so a 1991 Flax Plant should never carry Welsh or Scottish wording. The 1986 and 1991 coins are identical apart from the date. If yours is dated 1986, you have the scarcer of the two; if it reads 1991, it is the common one. A bright coin will show the texture on the diadem band clearly.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1991 Flax Plant £1 by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 1991 Flax Plant £1 ranks 21st lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 1992 Oak Tree £1 (36.3 million); the next more common is the 2006 Egyptian Arch Railway Bridge £1 (38.9 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 12 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 41 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 1991.
What to check on your 1991 Flax Plant £1
- Read the edge. It should say DECUS ET TUTAMEN; 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.
Just over 38.4 million is a middling figure for a round pound. A worn 1991 Flax Plant is a face value coin and only an unworn example is likely to interest a collector. The Royal Mint's 1991 annual sets carried the coin; a set example keeps its mint luster with no bag marks. Round pounds were faked heavily enough that a few checks are worth the time. The milling on a genuine coin is fine and even, the edge letters line up neatly and the plant's stems are sharp rather than blobby.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1991 |
| Circulation mintage | 38,443,575 |
| Composition | Nickel-brass (70% copper, 24.5% zinc, 5.5% nickel) |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
| Diameter | 22.5 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Lettered: DECUS ET TUTAMEN |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 1991 Flax Plant pound rarer than the 1986?
No, it is much more common. The 1991 coin had a circulation mintage of 38,443,575 against 10,409,501 for 1986. Both share Leslie Durbin's design and the Maklouf portrait, so check the date to see which one you have.
What was the last year of the Flax Plant pound?
1991 was the final year. The Flax Plant was used only in 1986 and 1991. When Northern Ireland's turn came round again in 1996, Norman Sillman's Celtic Cross and Torc design took its place on the round pound.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.