5 Pence - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait small type (1990–1997)

One row for each year the 5 Pence - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait – small type 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 1990 5 Pence - Elizabeth II – small type

The 1990 5 Pence - Elizabeth II – small type is a circulating 5 pence coin issued from 1990 to 1997, struck in copper-nickel (75% Cu, 25% Ni). It weighs 3.25g and measures 18mm across. Reverse design: The Badge of Scotland, a thistle royally crowned, legend above, denomination below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 8 years between 1990 and 1997, 3,629,669,450 coins in all. 1993 is the scarcest date, with 56,945 struck.

Common questions

History and design

The 5p shrank in 1990. After a review of the United Kingdom coinage in 1987 the Government announced its intention to issue a smaller coin, and the Royal Mint gives June 1990 as its first issue. The larger 5p, which had matched the shilling since 1968, was demonetised the same year.

The changeover year, when the new coin took over from the large 5p and the shilling, saw an enormous run. The Royal Mint's figures give 1,634,976,005 coins dated 1990, the highest figure for any year of the 5p, followed by 724,979,000 for 1991 and 453,173,500 for 1992. No 5p was issued for circulation dated 1993.

Striking resumed at lower levels: 93,602,000 for 1994, 183,384,000 for 1995, 302,902,000 for 1996 and 236,596,000 for 1997. The seven circulating years total 3,629,612,505. In 1998 a new portrait of the Queen was introduced and this type ended.

Nothing but the scale changed. The reverse is still Christopher Ironside's Badge of Scotland, a thistle royally crowned, with FIVE PENCE above and the figure 5 below. Ironside's reverses had first appeared in 1968 and, as the Royal Mint Museum records, remained in use for 40 years.

The obverse has Raphael Maklouf's portrait of the Queen, credited by the Royal Mint on the small 5p from 1990 to 1997, with the legend ELIZABETH II D G REG F D and the date. The coin is 18mm across and weighs 3.25g, in cupro-nickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) with a milled edge.

Collecting notes

This is the current size of 5p, so the coins remain legal tender, for amounts up to £5 according to the Royal Mint. All of this type are cupro-nickel and are not attracted to a magnet. The Mint changed the 5p to nickel-plated steel in January 2012, and Tony Clayton notes that it has been withdrawing the cupro-nickel coins for their metal, so these dates are slowly thinning out in change.

In the Royal Mint's figures 1994 is the lowest of the seven circulating years and 1990 by far the highest. A 5p dated 1993 came from a Mint or proof set. Clayton also records silver proofs dated 1990 and 1996 and a silver piedfort of 1990.

A 1990 5p measuring 23.59mm is not this coin but the last of the large type, issued that year only in sets. From 1998 the same reverse continues with a new portrait on the crowned thistle 5p of 1998 to 2008.

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