2 Shillings - George VI with 'IND:IMP' (1947–1948)

One row for each year the 2 Shillings - George VI with 'IND:IMP' 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 1947 2 Shillings - George VI with 'IND:IMP'

The 1947 2 Shillings - George VI with 'IND:IMP' is a circulating 2 shillings coin issued from 1947 to 1948, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 11.31g and measures 28.5mm across. Reverse design: Crowned Tudor rose flanked by thistle and shamrock, legend above, denomination and date below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 2 years between 1947 and 1948, 90,463,600 coins in all. 1947 is the scarcest date, with 22,910,000 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1993), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

This is the florin that marks the end of silver in everyday British coins. The Royal Mint Museum explains that the silver was needed for industry and to repay the 88 million ounces the United Kingdom had borrowed from the United States during the war. The Coinage Act, 1946 introduced cupro-nickel, and to make a clean break every cupro-nickel coin was dated 1947, with issues to the banks starting on 2 January.

A proclamation of 29 November 1946 gave the new florin the same design as the silver one. Wikipedia notes that its weight and diameter were unchanged, and the alloy was 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. Tony Clayton writes that apart from the metal the coins were unchanged, and that they were issued in large quantities in both years.

Coin Hunter and Wikipedia agree on 22,910,085 for 1947. For 1948 they give 67,553,636 and 67,553,838, either way the highest of any George VI florin. In 1949 the legend was shortened, so this type lasted only two years.

The reverse is George Kruger Gray's crowned rose between a thistle and a shamrock, with G under the thistle and R under the shamrock. The proclamation gives the inscription FID DEF IND IMP with TWO SHILLINGS and the date. Kruger Gray's initials sit either side of the stalk above SHILLINGS.

The obverse keeps Humphrey Paget's portrait of the King facing left, which the Royal Mint Museum records was produced in little more than a month after the abdication, with GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX around it. HP appears below the neck. The edge is milled.

Collecting notes

A florin with IND IMP dated 1947 or 1948 is cupro-nickel; one dated 1937 to 1946 is silver. The two look alike, so the date is the check. The silver florin of 1937 to 1946 and the 1949 to 1951 florin without IND IMP have their own pages.

Neither date is scarce; 1947 has about a third of the 1948 mintage. No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this type. These florins kept circulating as 10p long after decimalisation, and the Royal Mint Museum records that they were finally withdrawn at the end of June 1993.