6 Pence - George VI 1st coinage (1937–1946)

One row for each year the 6 Pence - George VI 1st 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 1937 6 Pence - George VI 1st coinage

The 1937 6 Pence - George VI 1st coinage is a circulating 6 pence coin issued from 1937 to 1946, struck in 50% silver. It weighs 2.83g and measures 19.3mm across. Reverse design: Crowned royal cypher dividing date, legend above, denomination below.

A mintage of 22,302,524 is recorded for one date of this type; figures for each year are not held. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1980), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

George VI came to the throne in December 1936 after his brother's abdication, and a new sixpence followed in 1937 with his portrait and a new reverse. It kept the 50% silver alloy that had been standard for British silver coin since 1920, and this silver type was struck every year until 1946.

Output was large throughout. Coin Hunter's yearly figures put 1937 at 22,302,524, and the wartime years were the busiest, with 44,942,785 in 1942 and 46,927,111 in 1943. The lowest date is 1938 at 13,402,701. Wikipedia's table agrees on most years but differs for 1937 and 1944.

From 1947 the sixpence was struck in cupronickel, because the minting of silver coin ceased after 1946. Sixpences of this type stayed in use after decimalisation as 2.5 new pence until the coin was demonetised at the end of June 1980.

The obverse carries Thomas Humphrey Paget's uncrowned portrait of the King facing left, with the legend GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX. The Royal Mint Museum records that Paget alone was asked to prepare the effigy after the abdication and produced it in little more than a month. His initials HP sit below the truncation of the neck.

The reverse, by George Kruger Gray, shows the royal cypher GRI, for Georgius Rex Imperator, under a crown, dividing the date. FID DEF IND IMP runs above and SIXPENCE below. Kruger Gray's initials KG sit below the cypher. The edge is milled.

Collecting notes

These are silver coins of 50% fineness, which is the main thing that separates them from the cupronickel sixpences of 1947 and 1948 with the same design. Check the date first, since the cypher splits it into two halves and a worn 1938 can be hard to read.

Proofs were struck for 1937, and Coin Hunter gives 26,402 of them. The Royal Collection holds one with a frosted finish. Tony Clayton's value list, which names only proofs found relatively often, includes the 1937 proof and no other proof of this type.

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

For the cupronickel coins with the same design, see the 1947 sixpence. None of these sixpences can be spent today.