2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 Coin
The 2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 is a circulating £1 coin with 25.4 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2011
- Circulation mintage
- 25,415,000
- 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 2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 worth?
With 25.4 million made, the 2011 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 2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 rare?
- No. 25.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 coins were made?
- 25,415,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 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 2011 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 2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was made
The second year of the capital cities series brought Cardiff and Edinburgh into change. Once again Matthew Dent's shield did the everyday work alongside them. The Royal Mint struck 25,415,000 shield pounds dated 2011 for circulation. That was less than half the 2010 figure and made 2011 the lowest shield year up to that point. Only the 2013 total would come in lower, a point worth remembering when you sort a jar of old pounds.
Mintages like this reflect how many coins the banks and Post Office actually ordered, not any plan to make a scarce date. By 2011 there were already hundreds of millions of round pounds in use, so new production mostly topped up supplies and replaced worn or damaged coins. Counterfeiting was a growing worry too. Forged pounds had been turning up for years and the problem would eventually push the government toward a completely new coin. For now, though, the round shield pound carried on as Britain's most familiar coin, passing through tills and machines until its withdrawal in 2017.
How to recognize it
Matthew Dent's shield of the Royal Arms fills the reverse, with ONE POUND below and no crown above. Its quarters show the three lions of England twice, the standing lion of Scotland and the harp of Ireland. Look on the obverse for the 2011 date and Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen, signed IRB. The edge inscription is DECUS ET TUTAMEN. All shield pounds from 2008 to 2015 share this reverse, so the obverse date is what matters. A 2011 coin showing a castle on a rock or a dragon is one of the city coins, not this one, so look before you file it.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 ranks 13th lowest of 41 circulating £1 coins with a published mintage. The next scarcer is the 2013 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 (13.1 million); the next more common is the 2007 Millennium Bridge £1 (26.2 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1983 Royal Arms £1 with 443.1 million, about 17 times as many. The scarcest is the 2011 Edinburgh £1 with 935,000, 27 times fewer than this one.
2011 brought 2 other circulating £1 coin designs: the Edinburgh (935,000) and the Cardiff (1.61 million). The 2011 Shield of the Royal Arms £1 was the most plentiful of the year.
What to check on your 2011 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 25.4 million, the 2011 shield is the second lowest of the circulating shield years after 2013. It is still a common coin with no real premium in circulated condition, but it is one of the dates people check for when sorting a jar of old pounds. An unworn example from the 2011 annual set makes a nice companion to the Cardiff and Edinburgh coins of the same year. When checking for fakes, the date is a good start: it should be clear and on the obverse, with lettering that matches the style and spacing of other genuine shield pounds.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 pound |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 25,415,000 |
| 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 | Rank-Broadley |
Other 2011 £1 coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 Cardiff £1 Coin | 1,615,000 | Small premium |
| 2011 Edinburgh £1 Coin | 935,000 | Collector premium |
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2011 shield pound rare?
Not really. With 25,415,000 struck for circulation it is one of the lower shield dates, second only to 2013, but that is still millions of coins. The rare pounds of 2011 are Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Which £1 coins were issued in 2011?
Three designs carry the 2011 date: Matthew Dent's shield of the Royal Arms, with 25,415,000 struck, plus the Cardiff pound with 1,615,000 and the Edinburgh pound with 935,000 from the capital cities series.
Mintage figures: One pound (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.