1 Penny - Charles III Hazel Dormouse (2023–2026)

One row for each year the 1 Penny - Charles III Hazel Dormouse was struck. Prices are medians of verified sold listings matched to that year from the listing: circulated is worn condition up to Extremely Fine, uncirculated is About Uncirculated or better. A count in brackets means fewer than three sales behind the figure; a grey figure marked "type" is the median across every year, shown where that year has no sale of its own yet. Most types have been searched year by year only since October 2026, so later years are still filling in. Use the grade table below for a price by condition across all years.

About the 2023 1 Penny - Charles III Hazel Dormouse

The 2023 1 Penny - Charles III Hazel Dormouse is a circulating 1 penny coin issued from 2023 to 2026, struck in copper plated steel. It weighs 3.56g and measures 20.3mm across. Reverse design: Hibernating Hazel dormouse over leaves, denomination over royal cypher design at left.

A mintage of 600,000 is recorded for one date of this type; figures for each year are not held.

Common questions

History and design

The Hazel Dormouse 1p is the definitive 1p of King Charles III. It is one of eight new designs, covering every denomination from the 1p to the £2, that the Royal Mint unveiled on 12 October 2023 to replace the Royal Shield designs introduced in 2008. All eight show plants and animals of the United Kingdom, a theme the Mint ties to the King's interest in conservation.

The Royal Mint's figures show 600,000 dated 2023 struck for circulation and none dated 2024. That is the lowest circulating figure for any 1p in the Mint's data, which starts in 1971. The next lowest is 30,000,000 for 2022, and no 1p coins at all were struck for circulation in 2018 or 2019.

Being struck is not the same as being released. The Mint says the 1p is not currently in circulation and will only enter circulation if there is demand. When the King's first 10p coins were released in August 2026, the Mint listed the 5p, 50p, £1 and 10p as the denominations bearing his portrait that had reached circulation. The 1p was not among them.

The reverse shows a dormouse with the inscription 1 PENNY and a large numeral, set against a repeating pattern of three interlocking C's that runs across all eight coins and refers to the cypher of Charles II. The Royal Mint calls the hazel dormouse, small in stature, a fitting presence on the 1p. It is found mostly in southern England, in counties such as Sussex, Devon and Kent, and its UK population has halved since 2007. More than 1,000 have been reintroduced in 13 counties to reverse the decline.

The Mint credits the reverse to its own team, which worked with the Royal Mint Advisory Committee and external artists, with support from the RSPB and the Royal Horticultural Society. The obverse carries the King's coinage portrait by Martin Jennings with the inscription CHARLES III DEI GRA REX FID DEF and the date. The coin is copper-plated steel with a plain edge.

Varieties and errors

There are two versions of the 2023 coin. Those sold in the Royal Mint's 2023 definitive sets carry a small Tudor Crown privy mark on the obverse, which the Mint describes as exclusive to that set. Coin Hunter records that the 600,000 struck for circulation have no privy mark.

No mint errors are documented for this coin.

Collecting notes

Until the Mint releases the circulation strike, a Hazel Dormouse 1p can only have come from a collector set. A 2023 coin with the crown privy mark is a set coin, and so is any coin dated 2024, because none of that date were struck for circulation.

The proclamation also provides for gold, silver, silver piedfort and platinum versions of the 1p. None of these, and none of the set coins, count towards the circulating figure.

The 1p is legal tender for amounts up to 20p. The King's 1p shares its low first-year figure with other coins in the set, including the Capercaillie 10p at 600,000 and the Atlantic Salmon 50p at 200,000.