1992 Oak Tree £1 Coin
The 1992 Oak Tree £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 36.3 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1992
- Circulation mintage
- 36,320,487
- 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 1992 Oak Tree £1 worth?
With 36.3 million made, the 1992 Oak Tree £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 1992 Oak Tree £1 rare?
- No. 36.3 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1992 Oak Tree £1 coins were made?
- 36,320,487 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1992 Oak Tree £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 1992 Oak Tree £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 1992 Oak Tree £1 was made
The 1992 Oak Tree brought Leslie Durbin's national series to a close. It was the eighth coin to use one of his four emblems and the last, because when England's turn came round again in 1997 a completely new design was ready. The oak, a tree long associated with England and with royal tradition, had first appeared on the 1987 pound and the 1992 coin repeats it exactly.
There was a small but genuine change to Britain's coinage in 1992, though not to the pound. That year the 10p shrank to a smaller size, two years after the 5p did the same. The 1p and 2p also switched from bronze to copper-plated steel. The pound stayed as it was, 22.5 mm, 9.5 g and solid nickel-brass. For circulation the Royal Mint struck 36,320,487 coins dated 1992, a little fewer than the 39,298,502 of 1987. It is one of the lower mintages of the Maklouf era, though far from scarce. Most people who find one today come across it in an old jar of change saved before the 2017 withdrawal. The portrait is Raphael Maklouf's diadem effigy, used on every pound from 1985 to 1997.
How to recognize it
The reverse is Durbin's oak tree rising out of a royal diadem, with ONE POUND at the bottom. The Maklouf portrait fills the obverse. The edge reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN, "an ornament and a safeguard", which England's coins share with the United Kingdom designs. Telling 1992 from 1987 comes down to the date, since nothing else differs. Do not confuse this with the 1997 Three Lions pound, which is England's next design: lions instead of a tree. If the oak is worn smooth, look for the outline of the diadem band beneath the trunk, which survives heavy wear. Heavily circulated coins can also take on a dull brown tone, which is just the nickel-brass aging and nothing to worry about.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1992 Oak Tree £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 1992 Oak Tree £1 ranks 20th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2012 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (35.7 million); the next more common is the 1991 Flax Plant £1 (38.4 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, 39 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 1992.
What to check on your 1992 Oak Tree £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.
With about 36.3 million struck, the 1992 Oak Tree has one of the smaller circulation runs of the national pounds, but it is not rare. Circulated coins are face value. A sharp, lustrous example from a Royal Mint annual set may bring a small premium from a date collector. The Royal Mint's own estimate before withdrawal was that about one in thirty round pounds in circulation was counterfeit, so check yours. On a fake the tree often looks flat and the date digits can be the wrong shape or size. Weighing helps too: a genuine coin comes in very close to 9.5 g.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1992 |
| Circulation mintage | 36,320,487 |
| 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
How many 1992 £1 coins were made?
The Royal Mint struck 36,320,487 Oak Tree pounds dated 1992 for circulation. That is slightly fewer than the 1987 Oak Tree and well below the big early dates, but it is still a common coin in collections and old change.
Was the 1992 Oak Tree the last of its design?
Yes. The Oak Tree was used only in 1987 and 1992. It was also the final coin of Leslie Durbin's national series. England's next pound, in 1997, carried Norman Sillman's three lions passant guardant.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.