2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 Coin
The 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 27.6 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2009
- Circulation mintage
- 27,625,600
- 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 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 worth?
With 27.6 million made, the 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £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 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 rare?
- No. 27.6 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 coins were made?
- 27,625,600 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £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 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £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 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was made
By 2009 Matthew Dent's coins were turning up in change everywhere, mixed in with the older designs they were gradually replacing. Not everyone welcomed them at first. The redesign removed Britannia from the 50p, where she had sat since the coin was introduced in 1969. Some critics felt the new reverses were too plain. Others liked the clean, modern look and the clever way the smaller coins fitted together. Over time the shield simply became what a pound looked like.
The 2009 shield was the only round pound design struck for circulation that year. There was no national emblem, no bridge and no city to go with it, just the standard reverse doing its job. The Royal Mint made 27,625,600 for circulation, a solid working figure but noticeably fewer than the 2008 total. Coins from that run stayed in use until the round pound was withdrawn in 2017, so most surviving examples show eight years of wear. That long working life is why a 2009 pound with sharp lions and clear lettering is more pleasing than you might expect from such a common coin.
How to recognize it
Expect the quartered shield of the Royal Arms on its own, three lions of England twice, the lion of Scotland and the harp of Ireland, with ONE POUND set below. There is no date on this side. Turn the coin over and you will find 2009 in the legend around Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen, who wears a tiara in this effigy and has his initials IRB beneath her neck. The edge carries DECUS ET TUTAMEN in capitals around the milled edge. Matthew Dent designed the reverse. Every shield pound from 2008 to 2015 looks the same on this side, so the date on the obverse is the only way to tell the years apart.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 ranks 15th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2007 Millennium Bridge £1 (26.2 million); the next more common is the 2015 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (29.6 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 16 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 30 times fewer than this one.
It was the only circulating commemorative £1 coin dated 2009.
What to check on your 2009 Shield of the Royal Arms £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.
At about 27.6 million, the 2009 is one of the lower shield years, though only the 2011 and 2013 coins were struck in smaller numbers for circulation. None of these are rare. A worn 2009 is a face value piece in collecting terms. Anyone filling a date run of shield pounds will still need one. Uncirculated examples come from the Royal Mint's 2009 annual sets. A coin from a set has a bright, even surface without the scuffs and dark toning of a coin from change. If a loose example looks too perfect, compare its edge lettering with a known genuine coin.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2009 |
| Circulation mintage | 27,625,600 |
| 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 | Rank-Broadley |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2009 £1 coin rare?
No. The Royal Mint struck 27,625,600 shield pounds dated 2009 for circulation. That is lower than several other shield years but still a very large number, so a circulated 2009 pound has no special rarity.
Where is the date on a 2009 pound coin?
On the portrait side. Round pounds always carried the date in the obverse legend, so look around the Queen's head for 2009 rather than on the shield side.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.