1 Penny - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait magnetic (1992–1997)

One row for each year the 1 Penny - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait – magnetic 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; years with no sales yet fill in as sales are recorded. 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 1992 1 Penny - Elizabeth II – magnetic

The 1992 1 Penny - Elizabeth II – magnetic is a circulating 1 penny coin issued from 1992 to 1997, struck in copper plated steel. It weighs 3.56g and measures 20.3mm across. Reverse design: A crowned portcullis with chains (an adaptation of the Badge of Henry VII, now the Badge of the Palace of Westminster) with legend above and denomination below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 6 years between 1992 and 1997, 3,124,319,000 coins in all. 1992 is the scarcest date, with 253,867,000 struck.

Common questions

History and design

In September 1992 the penny changed metal. The Royal Mint says rising prices for base metals on world markets led it to replace bronze with copper-plated steel: a mild steel core coated in copper. The new coins kept the same colour, weight, diameter and design and circulated alongside the bronze ones.

The catalogue treats the steel coins of 1992 to 1997, all with Raphael Maklouf's portrait, as one type. The Royal Mint's figures give 253,867,000 for 1992, 602,590,000 for 1993, 843,834,000 for 1994, 303,314,000 for 1995, 723,840,060 for 1996 and 396,874,000 for 1997.

The Mint's 1992 figure is a single number and is not divided by metal. Tony Clayton's reference states that the bronze pennies dated 1992 are found only in the Mint sets and proof sets of that year, which would make the circulating 1992 coins steel.

The reverse is Christopher Ironside's design for the decimal penny, a portcullis with chains royally crowned, with ONE PENNY above and the figure 1 below. It had read NEW PENNY until 1982, when the Royal Mint dropped the word NEW from the decimal bronze coins.

The obverse carries the Maklouf portrait with the legend ELIZABETH II D G REG F D and the date. The edge is plain. Because steel is less dense than bronze, the coin is slightly thicker at the same weight: 1.65mm against 1.52mm.

Varieties and errors

Tony Clayton records two versions of the portcullis reverse. On Die A the bolts where the bars cross are raised dots, and on Die B they are incuse circles. He lists both dies for 1992, 1993 and 1994 and only Die B for 1995 to 1997, along with small differences in the number of border beads. These are die varieties for specialists, not errors.

Collecting notes

A magnet settles the type at once: copper-plated steel is attracted to it and bronze is not. That matters only for 1992, the one date of this portrait found in both metals. A non-magnetic 1992 penny belongs to the bronze type of 1985 to 1992.

All six dates were made in the hundreds of millions and remain legal tender, for amounts up to 20 pence. In the Royal Mint's figures 1992 is the lowest and 1994 the highest.

The same reverse continues from 1998 with a new portrait on the 1998 to 2008 penny.