From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Half crown (British coin)

Former coin of the United Kingdom and other territories

Summary

Former coin of the United Kingdom and other territories

Field	Value
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Half crown
Value	£0.125
Two shillings and sixpence
Mass	1816–1970: 14.14
Diameter	1816–1970: 32.31
Edge	Milled
Composition	{{plainlist
Years of Minting	1707–1970
Obverse	File:British half crown 1967 obverse.pngclass=notpageimage
Obverse Design	Profile of the monarch (Elizabeth II design shown)
Obverse Designer	Mary Gillick
Obverse Design Date	1953
Reverse	File:British half crown 1967 reverse.png
Reverse Design	Various (crowned Royal Shield shown)
Reverse Designer	Edgar Fuller and Cecil Thomas
Reverse Design Date	1967

Two shillings and sixpence

1816–1919: 92.5% Ag
1920–1946: 50% Ag
1947–1970: Cupronickel The British half crown was a denomination of sterling coinage worth pound, or two shillings and six pence (abbreviated "2/6", familiarly "two and six"), or 30 pre-decimal pence. The gold half crown was first issued in England in 1526, in the reign of King Henry VIII, with a value half that of the crown coin. The first silver half crown appeared in 1551, under King Edward VI and was dated. No half crowns were issued in the reign of Mary, but from the reign of Elizabeth I half crowns were issued in every reign except that of Edward VIII, until the coins were discontinued in 1970.

During the English Interregnum of 1649–1660, a republican half crown was issued, bearing the arms of the Commonwealth of England, despite monarchist associations of the coin's name. When Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of England, half crowns were issued bearing his portrait depicting him wearing a laurel wreath in the manner of a Roman Emperor. The half crown did not display its value on the reverse until 1893. In the 20th century a slang term for the coin was "half-a-dollar".

The half crown was demonetised (ahead of other pre-decimal coins) on 1 January 1970, the year before the United Kingdom adopted decimal currency on Decimal Day.

History of the half crown by reign

King Henry VIII 1526: the first English half crown was struck in gold.
King Edward VI: issued gold half crowns, and in 1551 the first half crown in silver, which was dated and showed the king riding a horse.
Queen Mary I: the half crown was struck on Mary's marriage to Philip II of Spain in 1554 but was never issued for circulation. Three specimens exist.
Queen Elizabeth I: gold half crowns were issued again. At the end of the reign silver half crowns were issued.
King James I: gold half crowns were issued again. During the reign silver half crowns were issued.
King Charles I: silver half crowns were issued, including those struck as obsidional money, money of necessity during the Civil War period.
Commonwealth of England: Oliver Cromwell silver half crowns were issued. During the years 1656 and 1658 milled half crowns were issued of Oliver Cromwell.
King Charles II 1663–1685: silver half crowns were issued, and this period saw the end of the hammered issue of half crowns.
King James II 1685–1688: silver half crown.
King William III & Queen Mary II 1689–1694: silver half crown.
William III of England 1694–1702: silver half crown.
Queen Anne 1702–1714: silver half crown.
King George I 1714–1727: silver half crown.
King George II 1727–1760: silver half crown.
King George III 1760–1820: silver half crown.
King George IV 1820–1830: silver half crown.
King William IV 1830–1837: silver half crown.
Queen Victoria 1837–1901: silver half crown.
King Edward VII 1902–1910: silver half crown.
King George V 1910–1936: silver half crown, sterling silver (92½% silver) until 1919, then 50% silver.
King Edward VIII 1936: 50% silver half crown. Not issued for circulation.
King George VI 1937–1952: 50% silver half crowns were issued until 1946 when the metal was changed to cupro-nickel.
Queen Elizabeth II 1953–1967: the last half crown for general circulation was issued in 1967, and the coin was withdrawn in 1970, before decimalisation. Proof sets of £sd coins, including the half crown, were issued by the Royal Mint, bearing the date 1970.

Size and weight

From 1816, in the reign of George III, half crown coins had a diameter of 32 mm and a weight of 14.14 grams (defined as troy ounce), dimensions which remained the same for the half crown until decimalisation in 1971.

Mintages

The mintage figures below are taken from the annual UK publication Coin Yearbook.

Monarch	Obverse variant	Year
Victoria	Jubilee	1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
Old head	1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
Edward VII		1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
George V		1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
George VI		1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
Elizabeth II		1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1970

Gallery

File:Half crown of Edward VI (r. 1547–53) MET DP100457.jpg|Edward VI half-crown, 1552 File:NARC-03DB91, james I half crown reverse gold (FindID 536070).jpg|Gold half crown of James I File:Charles I half crown (FindID 455695).jpg|Charles I half-crown File:Cromwellcoin.jpg|Half crown coin of Oliver Cromwell, 1658 File:GREAT BRITAIN -CHARLES II, HALF CROWN 1680 a - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg|Half crown of Charles II, 1680 File:James II Half crown obverse (FindID 55685).jpg|Half crown of James II, 1687 File:GREAT BRITAIN, WILLIAM III, MARY II 1691 -HALF CROWN b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg|Half crown of 1691: William III and Mary II File:PUBLIC-3CFDCF William III Half Crown (1696) (FindID 795243).jpg|Half crown of William III, 1696 File:Half-crown of Anne.jpg|Half crown of Queen Anne COIN (FindID 920675-1036562).jpg|Half crown of George I, 1723 File:George2coin.jpg|Half crown of George II, 1746 File:George3coin.jpg|Half crown of George III, 1816 File:George4coin.jpg|Half crown of George IV, 1821 File:GREAT BRITAIN, WILLIAM IV 1836 -HALF CROWN b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg|Half crown of William IV, 1836 File:GREAT BRITAIN, QUEEN VICTORIA-1885 HALF CROWN b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg|Half-crown of Victoria, 1885 File:GREAT BRITAIN -VICTORIA HALF CROWN 1888 ab - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg|Half-crown of Victoria, 1888 File:1905 Edward VII Halfcrown (reverse) UNCIRCULATED.JPG|The reverse of the 1905, Edward VII, half crown File:GREAT BRITAIN, GEORGE V, 1930 -HALF CROWN b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg|George V half crown, 1930 File:GREAT BRITAIN, GEORGE VI -HALF CROWN 1948 b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg|George VI half crown, 1948 File:1953 half crown obverse.jpg|The obverse of the 1953, Elizabeth II, half crown File:1953 half crown reverse.jpg|The reverse of the 1953, Elizabeth II, half crown

References

[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/half-a-dollar "Half-a-dollar"], Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 5 October 2022
Kindleberger, Charles P.. (2005). "A Financial History of Western Europe". Taylor & Francis.
Tony Clayton. "Coins of the UK – Thirty Pence". coins-of-the-uk.co.uk.
"Coin, Banknote and Medal Collector's Magazines. Token Publishing Numismatic Interest". tokenpublishing.com.
"Welcome to Colin Cooke Coins – Numismatics, Coins, Rarities – 1952 Halfcrown". colincooke.com.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

pre-decimalisation-coins-of-the-united-kingdom coins-of-the-united-kingdom coins-of-the-kingdom-of-great-britain coins-of-england crown-(currency)

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Half crown (British coin) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report