1 Pound - Elizabeth II 4th portrait Leek and Daffodil (2013)

About the 2013 1 Pound - Elizabeth II – Leek and Daffodil

The 2013 1 Pound - Elizabeth II – Leek and Daffodil 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: Floral emblems of Wales, a leek and daffodil intertwined, denomination below.

5,270,000 were struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 2017), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

In 2013 the £1 coin reached its thirtieth year, and the Royal Mint marked it with a new four-coin set that returned to the floral theme of the first round pounds. England and Wales came in 2013, Northern Ireland and Scotland in 2014. The Mint revealed the first two designs on 30 November 2012 and sold them at once as a two-coin Brilliant Uncirculated pack. Gold and silver proof versions of the Wales coin followed in July 2013.

The Royal Mint's figures give 5,270,000 Wales coins struck for circulation, exactly the figure for the England coin. Only five of the 41 round £1 entries from 1983 to 2015 are lower: Edinburgh, Cardiff, London, the 2008 Royal Arms and the 2014 Scotland coin at 5,185,000. The standard Royal Shield pound dated 2013 had 13,090,500.

Round pounds lost their legal tender status at midnight on 15 October 2017.

The reverses are by Timothy Noad, a numismatic and medallic artist and Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators. Each pairs two plant emblems of one nation, which the Mint said had not been done on United Kingdom coinage before. For Wales a leek and a daffodil stand side by side with their leaves intertwined, accompanied by the words ONE POUND.

The Mint's account is that the leek has long symbolised Wales and is said to have been used by St David to distinguish his men in battle. The daffodil is thought to have joined it through a confusion of names, since its Welsh name, Cenhinen Pedr, is close to Cenhinen, the word for leek.

Noad said: "In my work, I often use plants and flowers in a decorative way, combining natural forms and heraldic stylisation."

The milled edge reads PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD, "True am I to my country". The obverse has Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Elizabeth II.

Varieties and errors

Check Your Change records that this coin is known with die rotation errors, in which the reverse is turned out of line with the obverse. It gives no detail of how far the dies are turned or how many are known, and no Royal Mint statement on these pieces was found. Compare a suspect coin with an ordinary round pound to see whether the two sides line up in the same way.

Edge lettering that reads upside down relative to the obverse is not an error. Check Your Change describes its orientation on round pounds as random.

Collecting notes

Confirm the 2013 date and the Welsh edge inscription, which separates it at once from the England coin with its Latin edge. Look for sharp detail where the leaves intertwine.

The site also lists a silver proof, a silver piedfort and a gold proof. The matching 2013 coin is the Oak and Rose £1, and Wales also appears on the Cardiff £1.