5 Cents - Elizabeth II Decimal Pattern (1961)
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 1961 |
| Denomination | 5 Cents |
| Face value | 5p |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Non-circulating |
| Composition | Copper-nickel |
| Weight | 2.810g |
| Diameter | 19.0mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
Young laureate bust of Queen Elizabeth II facing right, legend around
+ ELIZABETH · II · DEI · GRATIA · REGINA
Central crown with crowned lion above and date below, denomination to left and right
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The 1961 5 Cents - Elizabeth II Decimal Pattern is a collector 5 cents coin, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 2.81g and measures 19mm across. Reverse design: Central crown with crowned lion above and date below, denomination to left and right.
Common questions
How much is the 1961 5 Cents - Elizabeth II Decimal Pattern worth?
No verified sale of the 1961 5 Cents - Elizabeth II Decimal Pattern has been logged on MyCoinage yet.
Was the 1961 five cents ever legal tender in Britain?
No. It is a pattern, a trial piece struck by the Royal Mint to test a design and denomination. Britain never adopted cents: when decimal currency arrived in 1971 the pound was kept and divided into 100 new pence, so no five cents coin was issued.
Who made the 1961 pattern five cents?
The Royal Mint struck it at Tower Hill, according to the Royal Mint Museum, which holds several examples under the same Royal Mint file reference as the ten and twenty cents patterns. The Museum records do not name the designer of the lion reverse.
How many 1961 five cents patterns were made?
No production figure has been published in any source found. The Royal Mint Museum holds a run of examples in its own collection, but the number struck, and how many left the Mint, is not recorded in its online catalogue.
How do I identify the 1961 5 Cents - Elizabeth II Decimal Pattern?
Check the weight 2.81g and diameter 19mm and the metal (copper-nickel) against the specification table on this page. The reverse design is described above.
History and design
This five cents is one of a set of decimal patterns dated 1961 and struck by the Royal Mint at Tower Hill. The Royal Mint Museum holds examples in its own collection. Its five, ten and twenty cents patterns share the Royal Mint file reference 2/214/1, and it also holds one cent and fifty cents patterns of the same date. A pattern is a trial striking, and none of these coins was issued.
The date matches an important year for decimalisation: Wikipedia records that the Government set up the Committee of Inquiry on Decimal Currency, the Halsbury Committee, in 1961, and that it reported in 1963. In the end Britain kept the pound and divided it into 100 new pence, so a cents coinage never came about.
The obverse shows a wreathed portrait of the Queen facing right, with the legend + ELIZABETH · II · DEI · GRATIA · REGINA, as transcribed by the Royal Mint Museum. The Museum describes the reverse as a lion passant on a crown. The coin is cupro-nickel with a milled edge and a die axis of 360 degrees.
The three examples checked weigh between 2.80g and 2.84g. That is effectively the weight of the cupro-nickel sixpence, which the Royal Mint gives as 2.83g.
Collecting notes
This is a pattern, not a coin that circulated, so it never turns up in change and was never legal tender. The Royal Mint Museum's examples are the best documented, and no source found gives how many were struck or how many left the Mint.
The other values of the 1961 series are catalogued separately, including the 1961 pattern fifty cents, which the Museum records in silver with the edge lettered DECIMAL COINAGE PATTERN.
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 pattern five cents, 1961 (RMM 3044), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II pattern five cents, 1961 (RMM 3045), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II pattern five cents, 1961 (RMM 3049), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Decimal Day, Wikipedia (read 10 Oct 2026)
- A Year to Remember: coins minted in 1953, The Royal Mint (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II pattern fifty cents, 1961 (RMM 3013), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)