The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

decimal five pence

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

(often shortened to 5p in writing and speech) is a denomination of sterling coinage worth five one-hundredths of a pound. Its obverse has featured the profile of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

since the coin’s introduction on 23 April 1968, replacing the

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

in preparation for

decimalisation Decimalisation or decimalization (see spelling differences) is the conversion of a system of currency or of weights and measures to units related by powers of 10. Most countries have decimalised their currencies, converting them from non-decimal ...

in 1971. It remained the same size as the one shilling coin, which also remained legal tender, until a smaller version was introduced in June 1990 with the older coins being withdrawn on 31 December 1990. Four different portraits of the Queen have been used, with the latest design by

Jody Clark Jody Clark (born 1 March 1981) is a British engraver formerly employed by the Royal Mint. He designed the fifth and final portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to feature on coins of the pound sterling, and that portrait was the fifth and final to f ...

being introduced in 2015. The second and current reverse, featuring a segment of the Royal Shield, was introduced in 2008. 5p coins are

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in pa ...

up to the sum of £5 when offered in repayment of a debt; however, the coin's legal tender status is not normally relevant for everyday transactions. The five pence coin was originally minted from cupro-nickel (75% Cu, 25% Ni), but since 2011 it has been minted in nickel-plated steel due to the increasing price of metal. From January 2013, the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...

began a programme to gradually remove the previous cupro-nickel coins from circulation with replacement by the nickel-plated steel versions. As of March 2014, an estimated 3,847 million 5p coins were in circulation with an estimated face value of £192.370 million.

Design

The original

reverse Reverse or reversing may refer to: Arts and media * ''Reverse'' (Eldritch album), 2001 * ''Reverse'' (2009 film), a Polish comedy-drama film * ''Reverse'' (2019 film), an Iranian crime-drama film * ''Reverse'' (Morandi album), 2005 * ''Reverse'' ...

of the coin, designed by

Christopher Ironside Christopher Ironside OBE, FRBS (11 July 1913, London – 13 July 1992, Winchester, Hampshire) was an English painter and coin designer, particularly known for the reverse sides of the new British coins issued on decimalisation in 1971. Life ...

, and used from 1968 to 2008, is a crowned

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. ...

(formally, ''The Badge of Scotland, a thistle royally crowned''), with the numeral "5" below the thistle, and either (1968–1981) or (1982–2008) above the thistle. To date, three different

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...

s have been used. In all cases, the inscription is , where 2013 is replaced by the year of minting. In the original design, both sides of the coin are encircled by dots, a common feature on coins, known as beading. As with all new decimal currency, until 1984 the portrait of

Arnold Machin Arnold Machin OBE, R.A., FRSS (; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer. Life Machin was born Stoke-on-Trent in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice china pai ...

appeared on the obverse, in which the Queen wears the 'Girls of Great Britain and Ireland' Tiara. Between 1985 and 1997, the portrait by

Raphael Maklouf Raphael David Maklouf (born 10 December 1937) is a British sculpture, sculptor, best known for designing an effigy of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II used on the coins of many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations ...

was used, in which the Queen wears the

George IV State Diadem The George IV State Diadem, officially the Diamond Diadem, is a crown that was made in 1820 for King George IV. The diadem is worn by queens and queens consort in procession to coronations and State Openings of Parliament. It has been featured in ...

. On 27 June 1990 a reduced size version of the five pence coin was introduced. The older larger coins were withdrawn on 31 December 1990. The design remained unchanged. From 1998 to 2015, the portrait by

Ian Rank-Broadley Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS (born 1952) is a British sculptor who has produced many acclaimed works, among which are several designs for British coinage and the memorial statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace in London unveiled on her 60th ...

was used, again featuring the

tiara A tiara (from la, tiara, from grc, τιάρα) is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women ...

, with a signature-mark below the portrait. As of June 2015, coins bearing the portrait by

have been seen in circulation. In August 2005 the

launched a

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

to find new reverse designs for all circulating coins apart from the £2 coin. The winner, announced in April 2008, was Matthew Dent, whose designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from mid-2008. The designs for the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins depict sections of the Royal Shield that form the whole shield when placed together. The shield in its entirety was featured on the now-obsolete round £1 coin. The 5p coin depicts the centre of the Royal shield, showing the meeting point of the four quarters. The coin's obverse remains largely unchanged, but the beading (the ring of dots around the coin's circumference), which no longer features on the coin's reverse, has also been removed from the obverse.

Status as legal tender

5p coins are

for amounts up to and including £5. However, in the UK, "legal tender" has a very specific and narrow meaning which relates only to the repayment of debt to a creditor, not to everyday shopping or other transactions. Specifically, coins of particular denominations are said to be "legal tender" when a creditor must by law accept them in redemption of a debt. The term does not mean - as is often thought - that a shopkeeper has to accept a particular type of currency in payment. A shopkeeper is under no obligation to accept any specific type of payment, whether legal tender or not; conversely they have the discretion to accept any payment type they wish.

Mintages

''Mintage figures below represent the number of coins of each date released for circulation. Mint Sets have been produced since 1982; where mintages on or after that date indicate 'none', there are examples contained within those sets.''

References

External links

Royal Mint – 5p coinFive Pence, Coin Type from United Kingdom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Five Pence (British Coin) Coins of the United Kingdom Currencies introduced in 1968 Five-cent coins