1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 Coin
The 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 89.9 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1996
- Circulation mintage
- 89,886,000
- 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 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 worth?
With 89.9 million made, the 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £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 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 rare?
- No. 89.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 coins were made?
- 89,886,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £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 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £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 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 was made
Northern Ireland's turn in Norman Sillman's series came in 1996 with one of the most intricate designs ever used on the round pound. It combines a Celtic cross, the Broighter collar and a pimpernel flower. The Broighter collar is a gold torc, a neck ring, found with other Iron Age gold objects at Broighter near Limavady in 1896. It is one of the finest pieces of early Irish metalwork and a fitting emblem for the region's ancient past. The pimpernel is a small wild flower, added as a gentle natural touch to an otherwise ancient design.
The 1996 coin was struck in large numbers: 89,886,000 for circulation. That is one of the higher figures of the Maklouf years and well above the 63,968,065 of the 2001 repeat. It replaced the Flax Plant, which had represented Northern Ireland in 1986 and 1991. The new design brought a sharper, more ornamental look to the region's pound. The portrait is Raphael Maklouf's, which places the coin among the last round pounds to use it, since Ian Rank-Broadley's effigy arrived in 1998. The coin kept the standard specification of 22.5 mm, 9.5 g and nickel-brass with a lettered edge.
How to recognize it
The reverse shows a Celtic cross with a pimpernel at its center, set against the curved, decorated torc of the Broighter collar, with ONE POUND beneath. It is a busy design with lots of fine line work, which makes it a good test of how well your coin has survived. Maklouf's portrait of the Queen sits on the other side. The edge reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN, Latin for "an ornament and a safeguard", as on other Northern Ireland pounds. The 2001 coin has the same reverse but Rank-Broadley's portrait, so the effigy as well as the date tells you which one you have.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £1 ranks 33rd lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2014 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (79.3 million); the next more common is the 1990 Leek £1 (97.3 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 4.9 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 96 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 1996.
What to check on your 1996 Celtic Cross and Torc £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 nearly 90 million struck, the 1996 Celtic Cross is a common coin and spent examples are face value. The design's fine detail does mean wear shows quickly, so a genuinely sharp coin stands out. Unworn examples from Royal Mint sets are the ones collectors keep. Intricate patterns are hard to copy well, so blurred knotwork or a smudged pimpernel is a red flag. With round pounds faked on a large scale by 2017, that check is worth a few seconds. A genuine coin shows clean, separate lines in the torc decoration and evenly spaced edge lettering.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1996 |
| Circulation mintage | 89,886,000 |
| 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
What is the Broighter collar on the £1 coin?
It is an Iron Age gold torc, or neck ring, found at Broighter near Limavady in 1896 along with other gold objects. Norman Sillman used it in the 1996 Northern Ireland pound, together with a Celtic cross and a pimpernel flower.
Is the 1996 Celtic Cross pound rare?
No. The Royal Mint struck 89,886,000 for circulation, making it one of the more plentiful round pounds of the 1990s. A worn example is a face value coin, while a fully unworn one appeals mainly to date collectors.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.