| Value |
|
|---|---|
| Diameter | 38 mm |
| Edge | Milled |
| Composition |
|
| Years of minting | 1707–1981 |
| Obverse | |
 | |
| Design | Profile of the monarch (Victoria "jubilee head" design shown) |
| Designer | Joseph Boehm |
| Design date | 1887 |
| Reverse | |
 | |
| Design | Various (St George design shown) |
| Designer | Benedetto Pistrucci |
| Design date | 1817 |
Thecrown was a denomination ofsterling coinage worth a quarter of onepound (five shillings, or 60pence). The crown was first issued during the reign ofEdward VI, as part of the coinage of theKingdom of England.
Always a heavy silver coin weighing around oneounce, during the 19th and 20th centuries the crown declined from being a real means of exchange to being a coin rarely spent, and minted for commemorative purposes only. Unlike in some territories of the British Empire (such asJamaica), in the UK the crown was never replaced as circulating currency by a five-shilling banknote.
"Decimal" crowns were minted a few times afterdecimalisation of the British currency in 1971, initially with a nominal value of 25(new) pence. However,commemorative crowns issued since 1990 have a face value of five pounds.[1]
The coin's origins lie in theEnglish silver crown, one of manysilver coins that appeared in various countries from the 16th century onwards (most famously the Spanishpiece of eight),all of similar size and weight (approx 38mm diameter, 25gfine silver) and thus interchangeable in international trade. The Kingdom of England also mintedgold Crowns until early in the reign ofCharles II.[2]
The dies for all gold and silver coins ofQueen Anne andKing George I were engraved byJohn Croker, a migrant originally fromDresden in theDuchy of Saxony.[3]
The British silver crown was always a large coin, and from the 19th century it did not circulate well. However, crowns were usually struck in a new monarch's coronation year, fromGeorge IV toElizabeth II in 1953, with the exceptions ofGeorge V andEdward VIII.
The King George V "wreath" crowns struck from 1927 until 1936 (excluding 1935 when the more common "rocking horse" crown was minted to commemorate the King's Silver Jubilee) depict a wreath on the reverse of the coin and were struck in very low numbers. Generally struck late in the year and intended to be purchased as Christmas gifts, they were generally kept rather than circulated. The 1927 "wreath" crowns were struck as proofs only (15,030 minted) and the 1934 coin had a mintage of just 932.[citation needed]
With their large size, many of the later coins were primarily commemoratives. The 1951 issue was for theFestival of Britain, and was only struck in proof condition. The 1953 crown was issued to celebrate theCoronation of Queen Elizabeth II, while the 1960 issue (which carried the same reverse design as the previous crown in 1953) commemorated the British Exhibition in New York. The 1965 issue carried the image ofWinston Churchill on the reverse. According to the Standard Catalogue of coins, 19,640,000 of this coin were minted, although intended as collectable pieces the large mintage and lack of precious metal content means these coins are effectively worthless today.[4] Production of the Churchill crown began on 11 October 1965, and stopped in the summer of 1966.
The crown coin was nicknamed thedollar. In 1940, an agreement with the US pegged thePound sterling to the US dollar at a rate of £1 = US$4.03. This meaning of "dollar" is not to be confused with theBritish trade dollar that circulated inEast Asia.
In 2014, a new world record price was achieved for a milled silver crown. The coin was unique, issued as apattern by engraverThomas Simon in 1663 and nicknamed the "Reddite Crown". It was presented to Charles II as the new crown piece, but ultimately rejected in favour of the Roettiers Brothers' design. AuctioneersSpink & Son of London sold the coin on 27 March 2014 for £396,000 including commission.[5]
All pre-decimal crowns from 1818 on remain legal tender with a face value of 25p.[6]
Afterdecimalisation on 15 February 1971, the25-pence coin was introduced as a replacement for the crown as a commemorative coin. These were legal tender[6] and were made with large mintages.
Further issues continued to be minted, initially with a value oftwenty-five pence (with no face value shown). From 1990, the face value ofnew crown coins was raised to five pounds.[1]
| Preceded by | Crown 1707–1965 | Succeeded by |
The legal tender value of the crown remained as five shillings from 1544 to 1965. However, for most of this period there was no denominational designation or "face value"mark of value displayed on the coin. From 1927 to 1939, the word "CROWN" appears, and from 1951 to 1960 this was changed to "FIVE SHILLINGS". Coins minted since 1818 remain legal tender with a face value of 25 pence.
Although all "normal" issues since 1951 have been composed of cupro-nickel, special proof versions have been produced for sale to collectors, and as gift items, in silver, gold, and occasionallyplatinum.
The fact that gold £5 crowns are now produced means that there are two different strains offive pound gold coins, namely crowns and what are now termed "quintuple sovereigns" for want of a more concise term.[7][8]
Numismatically, the term "crown-sized" is used generically to describe large silver orcupro-nickel coins of about 40 mm indiameter. MostCommonwealth countries still issue crown-sized coins for sale to collectors.
New Zealand's original fifty-cent pieces, andAustralia's previously round but nowdodecagonal fifty-cent piece, although valued at five shillings in predecimal accounting, are all smaller than the standard silver crown pieces issued by those countries (and the UK). They were in fact similarly sized to the predecimal half crown (worth two shillings and sixpence).
For silver crowns, the grade of silver adhered to the long-standing standard (established in the 12th century byHenry II) – theSterling Silver standard of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. This was a harder-wearing alloy, yet it was still a rather high grade of silver. It went some way towards discouraging the practice of "clipping", though this practice was further discouraged and largely eliminated with the introduction of themilled edge seen on coins today.
In a debasement process which took effect in 1920, the silver content of all British coins was reduced from 92.5% to 50%, with a portion of the remainder consisting ofmanganese, which caused the coins to tarnish to a very dark colour after they had been in circulation for a significant period. Silver was eliminated altogether in 1947, with the move to a composition ofcupro-nickel – except for proof issues, which returned to the pre-1920 92.5% silver composition.
Since theGreat Recoinage of 1816, a crown has, as a general rule, had a diameter of 38.61 millimetres (1.520 in), and weighed 28.276 grams (defined as10⁄11 troy ounce).[9][10]
| Monarch | Year | Number minted | Detail | Composition* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward VII | As 5/- (60d; quarter sovereign) | |||
| 1902 | 256,020 | Coronation | 0.925 silver | |
| George V | 1927 | 15,030 (proof only) | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver |
| 1928 | 9,034 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| 1929 | 4,994 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| 1930 | 4,847 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| 1931 | 4,056 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| 1932 | 2,395 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| 1933 | 7,132 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| 1934 | 932 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| 1935 | 714,769 | George V and Queen Mary Silver Jubilee | 0.500 silver | |
| 1936 | 2,473 | 'Wreath' Crown | 0.500 silver | |
| George VI | 1937 | 418,699 | Coronation | 0.500 silver |
| 1951 | 1,983,540 | Festival of Britain | Cu/Ni | |
| Elizabeth II | 1953 | 5,962,621 | Coronation | Cu/Ni |
| 1960 | 1,024,038 | British Exhibition in New York | Cu/Ni | |
| 1965 | 19,640,000 | Death ofSir Winston Churchill | Cu/Ni | |
| As25p (quarter sovereign) | ||||
| 1972 | 7,452,100 | Queen Elizabeth II 25th Wedding Anniversary | Cu/Ni | |
| 1977 | 37,061,160 | Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee | Cu/Ni | |
| 1980 | 9,306,000 | Queen Mother 80th Birthday | Cu/Ni | |
| 1981 | 26,773,600 | Charles and Diana Wedding | Cu/Ni | |
| For crowns minted from 1990, which have a value of £5, seehere. | ||||
| Charles III | These crowns have a value of £5: seehere. | |||
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In 1853, the Royal Mint had produced two patterns for a gold 5-shilling coin for circulation use, one denominated as five shillings and the other as aquarter sovereign, but this coin never went into production, in part due to concerns about the small size of the coin and likely wear in circulation.[11] The quarter sovereign was introduced in 2009 as abullion coin.
In 1551 Edward VI issued a large silver coin of the value of five shillings and as its currency value was the same as that of the gold crown it took its name from that coin. Both gold and silver crowns continued to be struck concurrently until early in the reign of Charles II, when minting of the gold crown ceased.
