1 Crown - George III Pattern Base Metal (1818)
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 1818 |
| Denomination | 1 Crown |
| Face value | 25p |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Non-circulating |
| Demonetised | Yes |
| Composition | Lead |
| Shape | Round |
| Obv. artist | Benedetto Pistrucci |
| Rev. artist | Benedetto Pistrucci |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
Coarse toothed border
Saint George slaying the dragon.This is an automatic translation. The original text is:Saint-George terrassant le dragon.
Base Metal Crown market value
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Daily limit reachedBase Metal Crown value by grade
Realised auction prices · ⭐ Pro Expand rows for individual sale records| Grade | Latest | Median | 30d Δ | All-time range | Sales (1yr) | Total sales | Last sale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VF | £442.04 🔒 | £703.05 (2) | – | £442.04 – £964.06 | 0 | 2 | 24-11-2024 | |
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About the 1818 1 Crown - George III Pattern – Base Metal
The 1818 1 Crown - George III Pattern – Base Metal is a collector 1 crown coin, struck in lead. Reverse design: Saint George slaying the dragon.This is an automatic translation. The original text is:Saint-George terrassant le dragon.
It is no longer legal tender, so its value is to collectors only.
Common questions
How much is the 1818 1 Crown - George III Pattern – Base Metal worth?
The 1818 1 Crown - George III Pattern – Base Metal has a price in one grade on MyCoinage so far: £703 in VF, the median of its verified sales.
What is a lead 1818 crown?
A trial striking, not a coin. While Benedetto Pistrucci's dies for the 1818 crown were being prepared, impressions were taken in lead and in silvered tin to check the work. They were never issued as money and carry no face value.
Is the lead 1818 crown legal tender?
No. It is a die trial in base metal, not a coin. The silver crowns struck for circulation from 1818 do remain legal tender at 25p, according to Wikipedia's article on the British crown, but that does not extend to trial pieces.
How many lead 1818 crowns exist?
No number is recorded. The pieces that have reached auction differ from one another: Woolley and Wallis sold a pair of retrograde lead strikings of obverse and reverse in 2006, and Christie's sold a uniface lead obverse described as unrecorded and possibly unique.
Who designed the 1818 crown?
Benedetto Pistrucci. He modelled the laureate head of George III and the St George and the dragon reverse, and placed his full surname on both sides, which drew public criticism. The design was used on the crown from 1818.
History and design
After the Great Recoinage began in 1816, the silver crown returned to production in 1818. Tony Clayton notes that no crowns had been issued for 67 years after 1751. The Royal Mint Museum describes this as an attempt to revive the denomination by combining Benedetto Pistrucci's head of George III with his St George and the dragon. Getting the coin right took many trials. A Royal Mint Museum note on the 1818 proof crown records that edge tools of several designs were prepared and some were struck as trial pieces, and that the raised edge lettering gave the Mint considerable trouble.
This entry covers the base-metal trial strikings from those dies. They are not coins and were never issued. The Royal Mint Museum holds two obverse impressions dated 1818 in silvered tin with plain edges. Lead pieces have also reached the market: Woolley and Wallis sold a lead obverse and a lead reverse in 2006, struck in a collar on separate thick planchets with the images and legends retrograde, and Christie's sold a uniface lead striking of the obverse die, plain-edged, with various incuse letters in the field.
The obverse is Pistrucci's laureate head of George III facing right, as on the currency crown. The reverse is his St George on horseback slaying the dragon, with the Garter motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE around it. Wikipedia notes that Pistrucci signed both sides of the crown with his full surname, which drew public criticism, and that William Wellesley Pole, Master of the Mint, pressed him with instructions on details from the shape of the sword to the ferocity of the dragon.
The Woolley and Wallis pair has toothed borders and measures about 39 mm. Because the pieces were struck to test dies, their details vary from piece to piece. Where an edge is recorded, on the Christie's lead obverse and the two tin impressions, it is plain rather than lettered.
Varieties and errors
The lead and tin pieces on record are of three kinds: paired retrograde strikings of each side, a uniface obverse, and silvered tin obverse impressions. None is a mint error; each is a separate trial.
Collecting notes
No number made is recorded, and examples are few. Christie's described its uniface lead obverse as unrecorded and possibly unique. Lead is soft, so scuffs, scratches and edge knocks are normal; the Woolley and Wallis pieces were described with scuff marks on both sides.
A base-metal trial should not be confused with the currency coin, the 1818 crown, which is in silver with a raised lettered edge giving the regnal year. The circulating crowns remain legal tender at 25p, but trial pieces have no face value.
Sources
The history, design, varieties and collecting notes on this page are drawn from these sources. Prices come from recorded sales, not from them.
- Jewellery & Coins, 26 April 2006, lot 1052: George III pattern or trial striking of the crown, 1818, in lead, Woolley & Wallis (read 12 Oct 2026)
- George III, pattern or trial uniface striking of obverse die for a Crown, struck in lead, Christie's (read 12 Oct 2026)
- George III crown obverse impression, 1818 (RMM 1192 and RMM 1193), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 12 Oct 2026)
- Benedetto Pistrucci, Wikipedia (read 12 Oct 2026)
- George III proof crown, 1818 (RMM 1190), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 12 Oct 2026)
- Crown, Royal Mint Museum (read 12 Oct 2026)
- Crown (British coin), Wikipedia (read 12 Oct 2026)
- Five Shillings, Quarter Guinea and Five and Six, Tony Clayton, Coins of the UK (read 12 Oct 2026)
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