Crown (British Coin) - History

History

The coin's origins lay in the English silver crown, one of many silver coins that appeared in various countries from the 16th century onwards, the most famous example perhaps being pieces of eight, all of which were of a similar size and weight (approx 38mm diameter and containing approx 25 grams of fine silver) and thus interchangeable in international trade. The kingdom of England also minted gold Crowns in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The British 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, true of each monarch since George IV up until the present monarch in 1953, with the single exception of George V.

The Queen Victoria "Gothic" crown of 1847 (mintage just 8,000 and produced to celebrate the Gothic revival) is considered by many to be the most beautiful British coin ever minted.

The George V "wreath" crowns struck from 1927 to 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 did not circulate well with the rarest of all dates, 1934, (mintage just 932) now fetching several thousand pounds each. The 1927 'wreath' crowns were struck as proofs only (15,030 minted).

With its large size, many of the later coins were primarily commemoratives. The 1951 issue was for the Festival of Britain, and was only struck in proof condition. The 1965 issue carried the image of Winston Churchill on the reverse, the first time a non-monarch or commoner was ever placed on a British coin, and marked his death. According to the Standard Catalog of coins, 9,640,000 of this coin were minted, a very high number at the time, making them of little value today except as a mark of respect for the national war leader.

The crown was worth five shillings (or 60 pre-decimal pence) until decimalisation in February 1971, and was also the basis of other denominations such as the half crown and double crown.

The last five shilling piece was minted in 1965.

The crown coin was nicknamed the dollar, but is not to be confused with the British trade dollar that circulated in the Orient.