1 Pound - Elizabeth II Thistle and Bluebell Gold Proof (2014)

About the 2014 1 Pound - Elizabeth II Thistle and Bluebell – Gold Proof

The 2014 1 Pound - Elizabeth II Thistle and Bluebell – Gold Proof is a collector 1 pound coin in the Round Pound series, struck in 91.67% gold. It weighs 19.62g and measures 22.5mm across. Reverse design: Floral emblems of Scotland, a thistle and bluebell together, denomination below.

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 It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 2017), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

This is a collector version of the 1 Pound - Elizabeth II – Thistle and Bluebell. The history below is that coin's; the mintage, varieties and collecting notes on its page do not apply to this strike.

The Scotland floral £1 was the third of four round pounds pairing the plant emblems of the home nations, after England and Wales in 2013 and alongside Northern Ireland in 2014. It circulated beside the Royal Shield £1 of the same date.

The Royal Mint's figures give 5,185,000 struck for circulation, the lowest of the four floral coins. Northern Ireland had 5,780,000 and the 2014 Royal Shield £1 had 79,305,200. Across all dated round £1 issues in the Mint's figures only four are lower: Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and the 2008 Royal Arms.

The 12-sided £1 replaced the round pound from 28 March 2017, and round pounds lost legal tender status at midnight on 15 October 2017.

Timothy Noad's reverse joins a Scottish thistle and a bluebell. The Royal Mint's 2014 release says the thistle became an emblem of Scotland in the thirteenth century, in the reign of Alexander III, and first appeared on Scottish silver coinage under James III. It calls the Scottish bluebell "the delicate, less familiar, floral symbol of Scotland" and notes the folk song "The Blue Bells of Scotland".

The thistle was not new to the pound. Leslie Durbin's thistle and royal diadem stood for Scotland on the coins of 1984 and 1989. Noad's version gives the plant a partner, in line with his aim that each motif be "clearly recognisable" while keeping within "the heraldic rules and conventions".

The milled edge carries the Latin motto NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT, as on the earlier Scottish pounds. The obverse has the fourth portrait of Elizabeth II, by Ian Rank-Broadley.