3 Pence - George V 2nd issue incl. Maundy (1920–1927)

One row for each year the 3 Pence - George V 2nd issue – incl. Maundy 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 1920 3 Pence - George V 2nd issue – incl. Maundy

The 1920 3 Pence - George V 2nd issue – incl. Maundy is a collector 3 pence coin issued from 1920 to 1927 in the Maundy Money series, struck in 50% silver. It weighs 1.41g and measures 16mm across. Reverse design: Crowned denomination dividing date within oak wreath.

Mintage figures are recorded for 5 years between 1921 and 1926, 24,574,002 coins in all. 1924 is the scarcest date, with 2 struck.

Common questions

History and design

In 1920 the threepence lost half its silver. The Royal Mint Museum explains that wartime demand had pushed the silver price up until, in autumn 1919, it threatened to make sterling coinage uneconomic. The Silver Coinage Act 1920 cut the standard to .500, the first such coins were struck in April 1920, and three different .500 alloys were tried in the first two years alone. Wikipedia notes that some threepences dated 1920 were still struck in sterling, so that date exists in both metals.

Currency output was modest after the wartime peak. Coin Hunter gives 8,749,301 for 1921 and 7,979,998 for 1922; none were struck for circulation in 1923 or 1924, and 1925 and 1926 followed at 3,731,859 and 4,107,910. For 1927 the only currency threepence was the new oak sprig design, in proof sets. Coinstrail gives between 1,373 and 1,690 Maundy threepences in each year from 1921 to 1927, so 1923, 1924 and 1927 are represented by Maundy coins alone.

The design is unchanged from the sterling coin: Bertram Mackennal's bare head of George V facing left, initials BM on the truncation, with GEORGIVS V D G BRITT OMN REX F D IND IMP, and a crowned 3 with the date in an oak wreath. Wikipedia attributes the wreathed reverse to Jean Baptiste Merlen in 1822, with Leonard Charles Wyon's altered crown of 1888.

Varieties and errors

Tony Clayton notes that until 1927 the currency and Maundy threepences are more or less identical, the depth of striking being the best clue. The 1920 coin exists in sterling and in .500 silver, and Clayton lists a separate 1926 modified effigy. No mint errors are documented.

Collecting notes

Clayton notes that from 1927 any silver threepence with a crowned 3 is a Maundy coin, because the currency coin then changed to three oak sprigs with acorns. A 1920 coin may belong here or to the sterling 1911 to 1920 threepence, as both standards share the date. Wikipedia says silver threepences were revalued at three new pence in 1971.