Britain & the Commonwealth
Crowns, jubilees and a whole lot of Queen. For more than 60 years, Elizabeth II showed up on silver from London to Kingston to Freetown. Here's how to make sense of British and Commonwealth silver.
Jump to: Crowns · The round pound · Portraits · Across the Commonwealth · Medals
The crown: Britain's big silver coin
Before Decimal Day, 15 February 1971, a crown was worth five shillings. After decimalisation the crown lived on as a commemorative coin: 25 pence from 1972 to 1981, then £5 from 1990. Same big coin, new face value.
| Size | 38.61 mm |
| Weight | 28.28 g |
| Silver | sterling (.925) on the silver proofs |
| Silver inside | about 0.84 oz |
| Face value | 5 shillings (pre-1971), 25p (1972–1981), £5 (from 1990) |
Crowns worth knowing
- 1977: the Silver Jubilee, 25 years on the throne.
- 1981: the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, at St Paul's Cathedral on 29 July 1981. Philip Nathan did the double portrait.
- 1993: 40 years since the Coronation of 2 June 1953. Robert Elderton ringed St Edward's Crown with trumpets, and it's one of the best-looking modern crowns out there.
Heads up
Crowns were also struck in cupronickel at the same size and weight. The sterling proofs are the silver ones, so check the case or certificate for "sterling" or ".925".
1983: The round pound
The round £1 coin entered circulation on 21 April 1983 and replaced the £1 note. The Royal Mint also struck it as a sterling silver proof for collectors. It had a good run: the twelve-sided pound arrived on 28 March 2017, and the round pound stopped being legal tender on 15 October 2017.
| Size | 22.5 mm |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
| Silver | sterling (.925) on the silver proofs |
Check the edge: round pounds carry a lettered edge, like DECUS ET TUTAMEN on the Royal Arms design. Scottish and Welsh designs used their own mottos.
Four portraits of the Queen
The portrait dates a British coin before you even read the date.
| Portrait | On UK coins |
|---|---|
| Arnold Machin | 1968–1984 |
| Raphael Maklouf | 1985–1997 |
| Ian Rank-Broadley | 1998–2015 |
| Jody Clark | 2015–2022 |
Machin's portrait travelled too. You'll spot it on 1970s coins from the Isle of Man, the Cook Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
Fun fact: the Royal Mint moved from London to Llantrisant, Wales, where its new plant opened in December 1968. The last coin struck in London was a gold sovereign in November 1975.
Across the Commonwealth
When a country became independent, it often marked the big moments with a big silver coin. The 1970s were peak season.
| Country | Independent since | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Sierra Leone | 27 April 1961 | Crown-size sterling proofs, like the 1974 1 Leone marking 10 years of the Bank of Sierra Leone (founded 1964) |
| Jamaica | 6 August 1962 | Giant sterling proofs, like the 1978 $25 for the 25th anniversary of the Coronation |
| The Bahamas | 10 July 1973 | Big .500 silver proofs, like the 1978 $10 for five years of independence |
The Isle of Man
The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency, not part of the United Kingdom, and it makes its own coins. The Pobjoy Mint struck them starting in 1972. Look for the 1974 crown marking 100 years since Winston Churchill was born, on 30 November 1874.
Medals: silver with no face value
A medal isn't money. It has no face value and isn't legal tender, but British makers turned out some beautiful ones in sterling. Look for a hallmark or a .925 stamp.
- London Bridge, 1973: the Queen opened the new bridge on 16 March 1973. The old one was sold in 1968 and rebuilt in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Yes, really.
- The Birmingham Mint: a private British mint that started striking coins in 1850 and closed in 2003. Its pieces include a numbered medal for the 1977 Silver Jubilee.
Know your world silver
Every country picked its own mix. Here's how to read the numbers:
| Mark | What it means | Where you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| .999 | fine silver | Kookaburras, Pandas, Niue proofs |
| .925 | sterling silver | UK crowns, big Commonwealth proofs, Panama 20 Balboas |
| .900 | 90% silver | US dimes, quarters and halves up to 1964 |
| .800 | 80% silver | Canadian dimes, quarters, halves and dollars, 1920–1967 |
| .750 | 75% silver | Poland's 1930 5 złotych |
| .500 | 50% silver | 1970s Cook Islands $5, 1978 Bahamas $10 |
Keep learning
- Asia & the Pacific: Pandas, Kookaburras and Niue's endangered animals.
- Europe & the Americas: Poland, Croatia, Panama and the Franklin Mint years.
- Is My Canadian Coin Silver?: the Canadian guide that started it all.
Crowns, proofs and medals from around the world: browse our World Coins.