5 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern (1963)
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 1963 |
| Denomination | 5 Pence |
| Face value | 5p |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Non-circulating |
| Composition | Copper-nickel |
| Weight | 5.680g |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Rev. artist | Christopher Ironside |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
| Spink | S11Standard |
Three crowns above denomination, legend and date around
Blank.
DECIMAL PENCE 1963
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Daily limit reachedAbout the 1963 5 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern
The 1963 5 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern is a collector 5 pence coin, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 5.68g. Reverse design: Blank.
Common questions
How much is the 1963 5 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern worth?
No verified sale of the 1963 5 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern has been logged on MyCoinage yet.
What is the 1963 five decimal pence uniface?
It is a trial piece struck on one side only, carrying Christopher Ironside's design of three crowns over the figure 5 and the legend DECIMAL PENCE 1963. It was made during the Royal Mint's early, secret work on a decimal coinage and was never issued.
Is the 1963 decimal 5p legal tender?
No. It is a pattern, not a coin. Britain did not announce decimalisation until March 1966, and the first real 5p pieces, with a different Ironside design, reached the public in April 1968, according to the Royal Mint Museum.
Why does the 5p show three crowns rather than a thistle?
The three-crowns design belongs to Ironside's first set of decimal designs, made before 1966. When an open competition was called in 1966 he entered fresh designs, and those later designs, not the 1963 set, went onto the coins issued from 1968.
How many 1963 five decimal pence unifaces were made?
No production figure is published. The Royal Mint Museum holds at least six cupro-nickel examples, numbered RMM 3159 to RMM 3164, and the Royal Collection holds others presented by the Royal Mint.
How do I identify the 1963 5 Decimal Pence Uniface Pattern?
Check the weight 5.68g and the metal (copper-nickel) against the specification table on this page. The reverse design is described above.
History and design
This is a uniface trial piece: one side carries a design for a decimal five pence and the other is left blank. It comes from the Royal Mint's secret preparations for decimal coinage in the early 1960s, years before the government's announcement of March 1966. The Royal Mint says the art bodies it approached put forward a joint Royal College of Art and Royal Designers for Industry team, and Christopher Ironside's designs from that team were chosen.
The Royal Mint Museum dates its examples to 1963 and records them as struck at Tower Hill. In 1966 the Chancellor, James Callaghan, insisted on an open competition, so Ironside's first set was set aside. He entered again with new designs, and the 5p that reached the public in April 1968 carried one of those later designs, not the three crowns. The piece was never currency, and no production figure is published.
The struck side shows three crowns in a triangle, the top one slightly larger, above a large figure 5, with the legend DECIMAL PENCE 1963 inside a beaded border. The Royal Mint describes the design simply as three crowns on the five pence. The Royal Collection describes the crowns as topped with lis. Christopher Ironside designed it. The Royal Mint Museum records a milled edge and a plain back.
Varieties and errors
Weights differ between known examples. The Royal Mint Museum's six cupro-nickel pieces weigh about 6.5g. The Royal Collection holds one of 6.56g with a blank back and another of 5.71g whose back is blank except for the Royal Mint crest. Sovereign Rarities has described the 5 in a boxed set as silver.
Collecting notes
These pieces appear singly and in sets. Sovereign Rarities offered a complete eight-piece set in a blue box lettered PATTERNS FOR THE DECIMAL CURRENCY 1963, with an undated Machin portrait uniface and seven reverse unifaces from the quarter penny to 20 pence. The same dealer suggests, from Advisory Committee minutes, that the pieces may have been struck nearer 1966 despite the date; the Royal Mint Museum gives 1963.
Check the weight, metal and back of any example against the types above, and expect a milled edge. For the companion obverse trial, see the Machin portrait 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 five decimal pence, 1963 (RMM 3159), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II uniface reverse five decimal pence, 1963 (RMM 3162), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II Uniface pattern 5 decimal pence. Type II. (RCIN 443833), Royal Collection Trust (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II Uniface pattern 5 decimal pence. Type II. (RCIN 443834), Royal Collection Trust (read 10 Oct 2026)
- The UK Coins That Were Never Made, The Royal Mint (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Elizabeth II 1963 pattern Uniface Decimal 8-coin Set with original box, Sovereign Rarities (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Christopher Ironside's Designs, The Royal Mint (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Decimalisation, Royal Mint Museum (read 10 Oct 2026)
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