1 Pound - Elizabeth II 4th portrait Belfast (2010)

About the 2010 1 Pound - Elizabeth II – Belfast

The 2010 1 Pound - Elizabeth II – Belfast is a circulating 1 pound coin in the Round Pound series, struck in nickel brass. It weighs 9.5g and measures 22.5mm across. Reverse design: The official badges of the capital cities of the United Kingdom with the badge of Belfast being the principle focus.

6,205,000 were struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 2017), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

The Belfast pound is one of four round pounds on the theme of the United Kingdom's capital cities: London and Belfast dated 2010, Cardiff and Edinburgh dated 2011. The Royal Mint called it the City Series, and noted that it was the first time a "home countries" £1 series had put out two coins in one year. Belfast represents Northern Ireland.

The Royal Mint announced the coin's launch on 4 November 2010. To mark it, the Lord Mayor of Belfast was presented with a chain of office made by the local jewellers Steensons, with 10 of the coins set into it. The Mint counted Belfast as the 17th reverse design to appear on the £1.

The Royal Mint's figures give 6,205,000 struck for circulation. That is the highest of the four capital city coins and more than the other three put together, though only eight round £1 entries from 1983 to 2015 are lower. Round pounds lost their legal tender status at midnight on 15 October 2017.

Stuart Devlin, Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Queen, designed the series. Each coin shows the arms of all four capitals with one given prominence, and Devlin made the shields round to echo the coin.

Here the large badge is the shield of Belfast's arms. The Royal Mint explains that a sea-going vessel dominates it because the port was a busy shipbuilding centre, that the triangular pattern comes from the arms of the Chichester family, and that the bell is a simple reference to the city's name. Belfast used arms on its seal as early as 1643, but they were officially granted only in 1890. The name BELFAST and ONE POUND accompany the design.

The milled edge carries the city's motto, PRO TANTO QUID RETRIBUAMUS, translated by the Mint as "What shall we give in return for so much". The obverse has Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Elizabeth II.

Collecting notes

No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin. The four capital city coins look alike at a glance, so confirm the name BELFAST on the reverse and the motto on the edge. The edge lettering can read either way up relative to the obverse; Check Your Change describes this as random, not an error.

Round pounds no longer circulate, so every example now comes from a collection or an old jar of change. Look for sharp detail on the ship in the central badge.

The site also lists a silver proof, a silver piedfort and a gold proof. Its 2010 partner is the London £1, and the scarcest of the series is the Edinburgh £1.