1992 1p Coin
The 1992 1p is a 1p coin struck for circulation with 253.9 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1992
- Circulation mintage
- 253,867,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Copper-plated steel
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 1p worth?
253.9 million were made, so the 1992 1p is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
What would make yours worth more:
- Full original red or bright color
- A coin from a sets-only year
- A recognized variety or genuine error
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1992 1p rare?
- No. 253.9 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 1992 1p coins were made?
- 253,867,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1992 1p made of?
- Copper-plated steel. It weighs 3.56 g and measures 20.32 mm.
- Is the 1992 1p still legal tender?
- Yes. The 1p is legal tender, though 1p and 2p coins together only have to be accepted for payments up to 20p.
The 1992 1p coin in context
1992 is the year the penny changed metal. For two decades decimal pennies had been bronze, but the price of copper made that hard to justify for a coin worth so little. The Royal Mint switched to copper-plated steel, a steel disc with a thin coating of copper. Saving on metal mattered for a coin produced in the hundreds of millions every year. The 2p made the same change that year. The 10p was also made smaller in 1992, so it was a year of big change in British pockets.
For most people the switch went unnoticed until someone tried a magnet. Steel pennies stick to one and bronze pennies do not. That simple test is still the easiest way to tell the two metals apart. It also settles most arguments about whether an old penny is an error. The mintage for 1992 was 253,867,000, a modest figure next to the 602,590,000 that followed in 1993. That jump shows how quickly steel became the standard. A small magnet costs very little and answers the question in a second.
How to recognize it
Nothing about the design changed with the metal. Ironside's crowned portcullis and ONE PENNY remain on the reverse, while Raphael Maklouf's portrait of the Queen wearing a diadem fills the obverse with the date. Steel pennies keep the 20.32 mm diameter and 3.56 g weight of the bronze coins, so machines treated them just the same. The edge is plain on both. Look closely and a new steel penny can seem a little brighter and pinker than old bronze. Wear shows up differently too, since the copper skin can rub through to the gray steel below on heavily used coins.
The other side carries Raphael Maklouf's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1985 to 1997.
1992 1p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1992 1p ranks 15th lowest of 51 1p dates and varieties from 1971 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1983 1p (243 million); the next more common is the 2013 1p (260.8 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1971 1p with 1.52 billion, about 6 times as many. The scarcest is the 2023 1p with 600,000, 423 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1992 output was 1.2 times the 1991 figure and 2.4 times fewer than 1993.
Over the 1990s the Mint produced 5.49 billion pennies across 10 dates and varieties; the 1992 1p accounts for 4.6% of that.
What to check on your 1992 1p
- Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Try a magnet: 1992 1p coins are copper-plated steel and stick to it. A 1992 coin that does not stick is worth a closer look.
- Look at the surfaces under a light. Coins from sets have unbroken luster and color; change-worn coins are dull and scuffed.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or dipping strips the original color and leaves fine scratches.
A 1992 penny from change is face value. Its interest comes from the first year of steel, so many collectors keep one next to a 1991 bronze penny to show the switch. The magnet test takes a second and tells you which metal you have. Check for rust spots, which steel coins pick up if they are stored damp. Choose a bright coin with an unbroken copper surface. Pieces like that can carry a small premium. Worn steel coins with patchy plating are face value.
Copper-plated steel pennies with the portcullis (1992 to 2007)
By the early 1990s solid bronze had become a costly material for a coin worth so little. The Royal Mint's answer in 1992 was copper-plated steel: a steel disc with a thin copper skin, which looks much the same in your hand but is far cheaper to make. Size and weight stayed at 20.32 mm and 3.56 g so that tills, scales and machines carried on working as before. The new pennies are magnetic, which is how most people first discover the change.
Raphael Maklouf's portrait continued until 1997. In 1998 Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait took over, showing an older Queen in a tiara with his initials IRB under the bust. It stayed for the rest of this period. Ironside's crowned portcullis and the ONE PENNY wording carried on unchanged. Production hit its peak in these years. Several dates passed 700 million and the 2000 penny reached 1,060,420,000, the only date apart from 1971 to go over a billion.
Steel coins age differently from bronze. The plating rubs through on the high points, scratches show bright pink and pennies kept somewhere damp develop rust spots. None of that makes a coin an error, though people often ask. Every date in this period was struck in the hundreds of millions, so circulated pennies are face value. Collectors who chase these years want bright uncirculated coins, usually from Royal Mint sets, or tidy examples to fill the holes in an album.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 1 penny |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 1992 |
| Circulation mintage | 253,867,000 |
| Composition | Copper-plated steel |
| Weight | 3.56 g |
| Diameter | 20.32 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
| Portrait | Maklouf |
Frequently asked questions
Why does my 1992 penny stick to a magnet?
From 1992 the penny was made of copper-plated steel instead of bronze, so the iron in its core is attracted to a magnet. That is normal and not an error. Pennies dated 1991 or earlier are bronze and ignore a magnet completely.
Was the 2p changed in 1992 too?
Yes. The 2p switched to copper-plated steel the same year. Bronze 1p and 2p coins dated 1992 exist too, but only in that year's Royal Mint sets. Both coins kept their size, weight and designs through the change, so only a magnet tells them apart.
Mintage figures: Penny (British decimal coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.