Crown (British coin)

One crown

Great Britain (1707—1801) United Kingdom (1801—present)
Value	5/— (25p in decimal currency) £5 (commemorative coins from 1990 and later)
Diameter	38 mm
Edge	Milled
Composition	(1816–1919) 92.5% Ag (1920–1946) 50% Ag (1947–1970) Cupronickel
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

The British crown was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1⁄4 of one pound, or 5 shillings, or 60 (old) pence. The crown was first issued during the reign of Edward VI, as part of the coinage of the Kingdom of England.

Always a heavy silver coin weighing around one ounce, 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 as Jamaica), in the UK the crown was never replaced as circulating currency by a five-shilling banknote.

"Decimal" crowns were minted a few times after decimalisation 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]