6 Pence - George V 2nd coinage (1920–1926)

One row for each year the 6 Pence - George V 2nd coinage 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. 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 6 Pence - George V 2nd coinage

The 1920 6 Pence - George V 2nd coinage is a circulating 6 pence coin issued from 1920 to 1926, struck in 50% silver. It weighs 2.83g and measures 19.3mm across. Reverse design: Crowned lion passant atop crown dividing date within circle, legend above, denomination below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 6 years between 1921 and 1926, 105,575,100 coins in all. 1923 is the scarcest date, with 6,382,700 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1980), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

This is the same lion on crown sixpence George V introduced in 1911, struck in a lower alloy. The Royal Mint Museum explains that the war pushed the price of silver close to the point where making sterling coin would lose money, and the Silver Coinage Act of 1920 cut the standard to 0.500. The first such coins were struck in April 1920, and three different 0.500 alloys were tried in the first two years. Wikipedia's threepence article gives the balance as copper and nickel in 1920 and copper alone from 1922.

The coin was struck every year from 1920 to 1926. Coin Hunter and Wikipedia agree on the dates with separate figures, from 30,339,741 in 1921 down to 6,382,793 in 1923, the lowest of the type and the one CoinVarieties calls a better date. In 1926 the portrait was modified, and the 1926 total covers both versions.

The obverse is Bertram Mackennal's bare head of George V facing left with GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX, his initials BM on the truncation. The reverse is unchanged from the sterling coin: a lion standing on a crown dividing the date, with FID DEF IND IMP above and SIX PENCE below. Tony Clayton describes the obverse and reverse in exactly these terms for the whole 1911 to 1927 first design.

Varieties and errors

Clayton and Coin Hunter both list a broad rim 1925 beside the normal coin. No mint errors are documented.

Collecting notes

Wikipedia notes that some of the 0.500 alloys contained manganese, which made coins tarnish very dark in circulation. The 1923 is the date to find. Sixpences dated 1926 need a close look at the portrait, because TreasureRealm explains that the modified effigy sixpence shows a border whose beading reaches further in and a different placing of the BM initials.

Old sixpences stayed in use for nine years after decimalisation as 2.5 new pence, until 30 June 1980.