½ Crown - George III 1st portrait (1816–1817)

One row for each year the ½ Crown - George III 1st portrait 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 1816 Half Crown - George III

The 1816 Half Crown - George III is a circulating ½ crown coin issued from 1816 to 1817, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 14.14g and measures 32mm across. Reverse design: Crowned Garter and ornate Royal shield of arms overlaid with smaller shield, legend around.

It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1969), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

The bull head half crown was the first coin of the Great Recoinage. The Royal Mint Museum describes the silver coinage before 1816 as worn, counterfeited and neglected, and Tony Clayton notes that no half crowns had been struck since 1751. The Coinage Act of 1816 made silver a token coinage, and Wikipedia records that a troy pound of sterling silver was now coined into 66 shillings. The new coins were made with Boulton steam presses at the Mint's Tower Hill site and exchanged for the old silver from February 1817.

The half crown was struck to the new standard of 14.14 g and 32 mm, which lasted until 1970. Coin Hunter gives 8,092,656 half crowns for 1817 without dividing them between this portrait and the small head that replaced it that year. No figure is published for 1816.

The portrait was modelled by Benedetto Pistrucci, the Italian gem engraver recruited by the Master of the Mint, William Wellesley Pole. The Royal Mint Museum notes it shows the King from behind with broad shoulders and a thick neck, hence the name bull's head, and that it was unpopular. Thomas Wyon junior cut Pistrucci's model into steel, and Pistrucci blamed him for the result. The legend reads GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA with the date below.

The reverse, described by the Science Museum Group, has a garnished shield of the royal arms inside the Garter and the collar of the Order, crowned, with the arms of Hanover on a small central shield under the Electoral cap. The legend is BRITANNIARUM REX FID: DEF: and the shield's surround carries the initials WWP (Wellesley Pole) and W (Wyon). The edge is milled.

Varieties and errors

Dated 1816 and 1817. Tony Clayton notes the portrait was replaced during 1817, so that date exists with both heads. The Royal Mint Museum holds 1816 proofs (RMM 1200, ESC 614).

Collecting notes

Clayton writes that worn George III half crowns are very common. Look for wear on the King's hair and the shield's garnishing, and compare the portrait with the small head half crown before attributing an 1817 coin. The half crown ceased to be legal tender on 1 January 1970.