1 Shilling - George V 1st type (1911–1919)

One row for each year the 1 Shilling - George V 1st type 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; years with no sales yet fill in as sales are recorded. 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 1911 1 Shilling - George V 1st type

The 1911 1 Shilling - George V 1st type is a circulating 1 shilling coin issued from 1911 to 1919, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 5.66g and measures 23.5mm across. Reverse design: Crowned lion passant atop crown dividing date within circle, legend and denomination around.

Mintage figures are recorded for 9 years between 1911 and 1919, 211,170,500 coins in all. 1913 is the scarcest date, with 9,011,500 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1990), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

George V's silver designs were set by a proclamation published in the London Gazette on 24 January 1911. For the shilling it kept the heraldic Royal Crest reverse of the previous reign, and the coin was struck every year from 1911 to 1919 in .925 sterling silver.

The First World War drove output up. The Royal Mint Museum records that gold disappeared from circulation and silver demand soared, with the Mint's yearly output rising from 188 million coins in 1914 to 267 million by the end of the war, and shilling blanks bought in from as far as Ottawa. Coin Hunter's figures show 39,279,024 shillings dated 1915, the peak, against 9,011,509 in 1913, the lowest date. The nine dates total about 211 million.

By the autumn of 1919 the price of silver threatened to make sterling coinage uneconomical. The Royal Mint Museum explains that the government adopted .500 silver by an Act of 1920, ending this type.

The obverse carries Bertram Mackennal's bare head of the King facing left, with GEORGIVS V DEI GRA: BRITT: OMN: REX and the initials BM near the back of the truncation. The Royal Mint Museum calls the Australian artist's portrait attractive in many ways but technically unsuited to the coinage.

The proclamation describes the reverse as the Royal Crest, a crowned lion standing on a crown, with the date placed across it, FID: DEF: IND: IMP: and ONE SHILLING. Tony Clayton notes that this continued the Edward VII design, and the Royal Mint names George William de Saulles as the reverse designer. The edge is milled.

Collecting notes

The date settles the alloy: every shilling dated 1911 to 1919 is sterling silver, while the .500 silver shilling that followed from 1920 keeps the same design. 1913 and 1919 are the lower dates, but the heavy wartime issues of 1915, 1916 and 1918 are plentiful.

Proof shillings dated 1911 come from that year's proof sets, which CoinVarieties illustrates with a set running from the Maundy penny to the five pounds. No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this type.

Shillings passed into decimal use as 5p pieces. The Royal Mint Museum records that they were finally demonetised from the end of December 1990, when the larger 5p coins were withdrawn.