20 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern (1963)
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 1963 |
| Denomination | 20 Pence |
| Face value | 20p |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Non-circulating |
| Composition | Copper-nickel |
| Weight | 22.500g |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Rev. artist | Christopher Ironside |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
| Spink | S14Standard |
Helmeted and supported shield of arms above denomination, legend and date around
Blank.
DECIMAL PENCE 1963
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Daily limit reachedAbout the 1963 20 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern
The 1963 20 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern is a collector 20 pence coin, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 22.5g. Reverse design: Blank.
Common questions
How much is the 1963 20 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern worth?
No verified sale of the 1963 20 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern has been logged on MyCoinage yet.
What is the 1963 twenty decimal pence uniface?
It is a one-sided trial piece showing Christopher Ironside's Royal Arms design, the figure 20 and the legend DECIMAL PENCE 1963. It was struck during the Royal Mint's secret early work on decimal coins and was never issued as currency.
Did Britain have a 20p coin in 1963?
No. The 20 decimal pence of 1963 was only a trial. The Royal Mint notes that this design predated Britain's first 20p by almost twenty years; the real 20p, a small seven-sided coin, was first issued on 9 June 1982.
How big is the 1963 decimal 20p pattern?
It is about 36 mm across, close to crown size. The Royal Collection gives 3.61 to 3.62 cm for its one-sided examples, which weigh about 26.5g. The two-sided pattern with the Queen's portrait is lighter, at about 22.4 to 22.7g.
Is the 1963 twenty decimal pence legal tender?
No. It is a pattern struck to test a design, not a coin. Britain's decimal currency was announced in March 1966, and none of Ironside's 1963 designs was used on circulating coins.
How do I identify the 1963 20 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern?
Check the weight 22.5g and the metal (copper-nickel) against the specification table on this page. The reverse design is described above.
History and design
This trial piece carries a design for a decimal twenty pence on one side and is blank on the other. It belongs to the Royal Mint's secret preparations for decimal coinage in the early 1960s, before the government announced the change in March 1966. The designs were by Christopher Ironside, whose work for a joint Royal College of Art and Royal Designers for Industry team the Mint had chosen. The Royal Mint Museum dates its examples to 1963 and records them as struck at Tower Hill.
The 1963 set was abandoned when an open competition was called in 1966, and no 20p formed part of the coinage that followed. The Royal Mint notes that this design came almost twenty years before the first real 20p, which was issued on 9 June 1982 as a small seven-sided coin. No production figure is published for the trial.
The struck side shows the Royal Arms: the shield within the Garter, inscribed HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, under a crowned helm, with the lion and unicorn supporters and the motto DIEU ET MON DROIT on a banner below. A large 20 sits beneath, and the legend reads DECIMAL PENCE 1963 within a beaded border. Ironside designed it. The edge is milled and the back plain. At about 36 mm across it is roughly crown-sized.
Varieties and errors
The metal differs between collections. The Royal Mint Museum's unifaces, RMM 3132 to 3137, are silver and weigh about 26.6g. The Royal Collection's are cupro-nickel at about 26.5g, and one Royal Collection piece has the Machin portrait with a blank back instead. A separate two-sided 1963 pattern pairs this reverse with Arnold Machin's portrait and weighs only about 22.5g.
Collecting notes
Weigh and measure any example: a uniface should be about 26.5g, while a piece near 22.5g with a portrait on the other side is the two-sided pattern. Sovereign Rarities has offered the twenty pence in a boxed eight-piece set lettered PATTERNS FOR THE DECIMAL CURRENCY 1963. For a companion piece, see the ten decimal pence uniface.
Sources
The history, design, varieties and collecting notes on this page are drawn from these sources. Prices come from recorded sales, not from them.
- Elizabeth II uniface reverse twenty decimal pence, 1963 (RMM 3132), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II pattern twenty decimal pence, 1963 (RMM 3126), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II uniface pattern 20 decimal pence. Type II. (RCIN 443830), Royal Collection Trust (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II Pattern 20 decimal pence, 1963. Type II. (RCIN 443827), Royal Collection Trust (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II 1963 pattern Uniface Decimal 8-coin Set with original box, Sovereign Rarities (read 10 Oct 2026)
- The UK Coins That Were Never Made, The Royal Mint (read 10 Oct 2026)
- 20p Coin Designs and Specifications, The Royal Mint (read 9 Oct 2026)
- Decimalisation, Royal Mint Museum (read 10 Oct 2026)
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