British Crown coin
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The crown, originally known as the "crown of the double rose", was an English coin introduced as part of King Henry VIII's monetary reform of 1526.
The first coins were minted in gold, and the first silver crowns were not produced until the reign of King Edward VI. Although many people believe that all crowns were minted in silver, until the time of the Commonwealth of England it was common for crowns to be minted in gold in some quantity. No crowns were minted in the reign of Mary I, but silver as well as gold coins were minted in the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I.
Crowns were minted in all reigns between Elizabeth I of England and Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the last being produced in 1981.
The crown was worth 5 shillings, or 60 pre-decimal pennies, and was also the basis of other denominations such as the half crown and double crown. Coins of the same size are still produced, but have a face value of five pounds.
Numismatically, the term "crown-sized" is used generically to describe large silver or cupro-nickel coins of about 40 mm in diameter. Most Commonwealth countries still issue crown-sized coins for sale to collectors.
New Zealand fifty-cent pieces, and Australia's previously round but now dodecagonal fifty-cent piece, although valued at five shillings in predecimal accounting, are both smaller than crown pieces.
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