Five pence (British coin): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:25, 21 May 2006

Revision as of 15:11, 2 June 2006

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The [[United Kingdom|British]] decimal '''Five Pence (5p)''' coin was issued in [[1968]] in preparation for the forthcoming decimalisation of the coinage. As at that time it had the same value, size, and weight as the pre‐existing [[English/British coin Shilling|Shilling]] coin it may be viewed as a continuation of the older coin.

<div style="float:right;width:105px">[[Image:FivePence.jpeg]]</div>

The coin is minted from an alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The 1968 version of the coin weighed 5.65 grams and had a diameter of 23.59 millimetres. In 1990 a smaller version weighing 3.25 grams and with a diameter of 18.00 millimetres was introduced, and all the older 5p and shilling coins were withdrawn from circulation and demonetised from [[1 January]] [[1991]]. The old 5p coin had the same size as the 1 [[Deutsche Mark]] coin but was worth less than a fifth of a DeutschDeutsche Mark. Vending machines could not distinguish between the two, so the 5p coin was sometimes fraudulently used for the 1 DM coin.

The reverse of the coin, designed by [[Christopher Ironside]], is a crowned Thistle (formally, ''The Badge of Scotland, a thistle royally crowned''), with the numeral "5" below the thistle, and either <small>NEW PENCE</small> ([[1968]]&#8211;[[1981]]) or <small>FIVE PENCE</small> ([[1982]]&#8211;date) above the thistle.