1 Crown - George III (1818–1820)

One row for each year the 1 Crown - George III was struck. Prices are medians of verified sold listings matched to that year from the listing: circulated is worn condition up to Extremely Fine, uncirculated is About Uncirculated or better. A count in brackets means fewer than three sales behind the figure; a grey figure marked "type" is the median across every year, shown where that year has no sale of its own yet. Most types have been searched year by year only since October 2026, so later years are still filling in. Use the grade table below for a price by condition across all years.

About the 1818 1 Crown - George III

The 1818 1 Crown - George III is a circulating 1 crown coin issued from 1818 to 1820, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 28.28g and measures 37.6mm across. Reverse design: St. George slaying the dragon right within Garter, legend around.

Mintage figures are recorded for 3 years between 1818 and 1820, 1,286,800 coins in all. 1818 is the scarcest date, with 155,200 struck.

Common questions

History and design

After 1751 no crowns were struck for 67 years. The Royal Mint Museum explains that silver coinage had almost stopped in the later 18th century because the Mint paid less for silver than it was worth as bullion, and large coins were hoarded, exported or melted. The emergency answer was countermarked Spanish dollars and then the Bank of England dollar of 1804.

The Coinage Act of 1816 made silver a token coinage, and the new silver was issued from February 1817. Coin Hunter lists no crown among the 1817 coins; the new crown followed in 1818. Stash of Coins gives 155,200 for 1818, 683,400 for 1819 and 448,200 for 1820, so 1818 is the scarcest date by a wide margin. Wikipedia puts the recoinage output at 1.3 million crowns, and the Royal Mint Museum notes that the crown still failed to re-establish itself as a circulating coin.

Benedetto Pistrucci designed both sides. The obverse is his laureate head of George III with GEORGIUS III D:G: BRITANNIARUM REX F:D: and the date, and PISTRUCCI below the truncation. The reverse is St George on horseback slaying the dragon, the design first used on the sovereign of 1817, here set within the Garter with its motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE and signed again below.

Wikipedia records that Pistrucci was criticised for putting his full surname on both sides, and that the Master of the Mint, William Wellesley Pole, pressed him with instructions on everything from the sword to the ferocity of the dragon. The Royal Mint Museum quotes a contemporary judge who called the result the handsomest coin in Europe. The edge reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI followed by the regnal year.

Varieties and errors

The best known error is on the edge. Tony Clayton explains that the collar that lettered the edge was made in segments, and on some coins they were assembled in the wrong order, giving DECVS ANNO REGNI LVIII ET TVTAMEN. Coin Hunter lists the regnal years LVIII and LIX for 1818, LIX and LX for 1819 and LX for 1820, an 1819 with 9 over 8, an 1819 with no stops on the edge and an 1820 with 20 over 19.

Collecting notes

Read the edge first: it identifies the regnal year and shows whether the lettering has been tampered with. The dragon, the horse's head and the King's hair and laurel are the first places to wear, and the large flat fields mark easily. Check the date closely for the 1819 and 1820 overdates.

Pistrucci's St George continued on the George IV crown of 1821 and 1822. Wikipedia, citing the Royal Mint Museum, states that all crowns from 1818 onwards remain legal tender at 25p.