20 Pence - Elizabeth II 5th portrait Royal Shield (2015–2022)

One row for each year the 20 Pence - Elizabeth II 5th portrait – Royal Shield 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 2015 20 Pence - Elizabeth II – Royal Shield

The 2015 20 Pence - Elizabeth II – Royal Shield is a circulating 20 pence coin issued from 2015 to 2022 in the Royal Shield series, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 5g and measures 21.4mm across. Reverse design: Lower right section of the Royal Shield, denomination to right segment of rim.

Mintage figures are recorded for 8 years between 2015 and 2022, 564,266,780 coins in all. 2018 is the scarcest date, with 24,755 struck.

Common questions

History and design

The 20p changed less than any other small coin in these years. It kept the cupro-nickel alloy, weight and seven-sided shape it has had since 1982, and Matthew Dent's reverse had been in place since 2008. The one change came on 2 March 2015, when the Royal Mint unveiled a new portrait of the Queen and began striking coins with it.

The Royal Mint's figures split 2015 between 63,175,000 coins with the old portrait and 131,250,000 with the new. The 212,625,000 struck for 2016 is the highest figure for any 20p date except 1982, the year the denomination was launched.

Then came a pause. No 20p was issued for circulation dated 2017 or 2018, the first gap in the series since 1986 in the Mint's figures. Striking resumed with 125,125,000 for 2019, followed by 32,725,000 for 2020, 19,600,000 for 2021 and 42,875,000 for 2022. The six circulating dates total 564,200,000.

Dent's 20p shows the lower right of the Shield of the Royal Arms, part of the complete shield that his 1p to 50p designs form when placed together. The proclamation describes it as a section of the Royal Arms showing elements of the second and fourth quarterings, accompanied by the words TWENTY PENCE.

The obverse has Jody Clark's portrait of the Queen wearing the Royal Diamond Diadem. Clark was the first Royal Mint engraver in over 100 years to be chosen for a definitive royal portrait. The edge is plain, and the coin is an equilateral curve heptagon, like the 50p.

Collecting notes

No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin.

By mintage, 2021 is the date to note. Its 19,600,000 is the lowest of the type, and in the Royal Mint's figures only one 20p of the Queen's reign is lower: the 11,900,000 coins of the old Gardner design dated 2008. The 2020 figure is the next lowest of this type.

Coins dated 2017 and 2018 were not part of any circulating issue, and collector references record them as made for annual sets only. The same references report a 2022 coin with a small 40 below the portrait, made for the denomination's 40th anniversary and not for circulation.

A 2015 coin may have either portrait; the older one belongs to the fourth portrait shield 20p. Unlike the 5p and 10p, the 20p is not magnetic, because it is still solid cupro-nickel. It was succeeded in 2023 by the Puffin 20p of Charles III.