1997 Three Lions £1 Coin
The 1997 Three Lions £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 57.1 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1997
- Circulation mintage
- 57,117,450
- 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 1997 Three Lions £1 worth?
With 57.1 million made, the 1997 Three Lions £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 1997 Three Lions £1 rare?
- No. 57.1 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1997 Three Lions £1 coins were made?
- 57,117,450 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1997 Three Lions £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 1997 Three Lions £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 1997 Three Lions £1 was made
England's new design arrived in 1997, the last of Norman Sillman's four heraldic pounds to appear. It shows the three lions passant guardant, the royal arms of England since the reign of Richard I in the late twelfth century and still the emblem on the shirts of the national football team. After the oak tree of 1987 and 1992, the lions gave England a coin that matched the formal heraldry of the Scottish lion and the Welsh dragon.
The 1997 coin was the final round pound with Raphael Maklouf's portrait of the Queen, as the Royal Mint moved to Ian Rank-Broadley's effigy in 1998. It was also an eventful year for British coinage generally, since the two-color £2 was dated 1997, though it did not reach change until the following year. For circulation the Mint struck 57,117,450 Three Lions pounds, a solid mid-range figure. The design came back in 2002 with the new portrait and a larger run. Size, weight and alloy were unchanged at 22.5 mm, 9.5 g and nickel-brass.
How to recognize it
Sillman's reverse shows three lions, one above another, walking to the left with their heads turned to face you, which is what passant guardant means in heraldry. ONE POUND sits beneath them. On the obverse is Maklouf's diadem portrait of the Queen, which marks this as the 1997 coin rather than the 2002 one. The edge reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN, "an ornament and a safeguard". England has no separate edge motto. Do not mistake this for the Scottish Lion Rampant: that design has a single lion standing upright inside a decorated double border. On worn English coins the three bodies tend to merge, but the stacked arrangement stays recognizable.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1997 Three Lions £1 by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1997 Three Lions £1 ranks 26th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2008 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (43.8 million); the next more common is the 2010 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (57.1 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 7.8 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 61 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 1997.
What to check on your 1997 Three Lions £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 57.1 million struck for circulation, the 1997 Three Lions is common and a worn coin is face value. Its main point of interest is historical, as the last Maklouf pound. Unworn examples, usually from the 1997 Royal Mint sets, are the ones date collectors want. The lions' manes and the fine lines on their bodies wear down first. When you check for a fake, compare the faces of the lions with a known good coin. Copies often have soft, featureless heads and lettering that sits unevenly around the rim.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1997 |
| Circulation mintage | 57,117,450 |
| 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
Was 1997 the last pound coin with the Maklouf portrait?
Yes. The 1997 Three Lions was the final round pound to carry Raphael Maklouf's effigy of the Queen. From 1998 the Royal Mint used Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait. The 2002 Three Lions has that later effigy.
What do the three lions on the 1997 pound represent?
They are the royal arms of England, three lions passant guardant, used since the time of Richard I. Norman Sillman chose them for England's coin in his set of heraldic designs, which also covered Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.