½ Crown - George V 1st type (1911–1919)

One row for each year the ½ Crown - George V 1st 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 1911 Half Crown - George V 1st type

The 1911 Half Crown - George V 1st type is a circulating ½ crown coin issued from 1911 to 1919, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 14.14g and measures 32.3mm across. Reverse design: Crowned quartered shield of arms within Garter band, legend around, divided date below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 9 years between 1911 and 1919, 142,519,500 coins in all. 1911 is the scarcest date, with 2,914,500 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1969), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

New designs for George V's silver coins were fixed by a proclamation given at Windsor Castle on 23 January 1911, published in the London Gazette the next day and effective from 1 January 1911. The half crown, worth two shillings and sixpence, was struck every year from 1911 to 1919 in sterling silver, 92.5% fine.

Coin Hunter and Wikipedia's table, from Coin Yearbook, agree on every date, 142,520,001 in all. The first three years were small, with 1911 the lowest at 2,914,573. The war changed that: the Royal Mint Museum explains that gold largely disappeared from circulation during the war and silver had to fill the gap, and half crown output reached 32,433,066 in 1915 and stayed above 29 million in 1916 and 1918.

Rising silver prices ended the type. The Silver Coinage Act of 1920 cut the fineness to .500, so 1919 is the last sterling half crown.

The proclamation describes the reverse as the Ensigns Armorial of the United Kingdom in a shield surmounted by the Royal Crown and surrounded by the Garter with its motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, with FID DEF IND IMP, HALF CROWN and the date. Tony Clayton notes that the Edward VII reverse was, unusually, kept unchanged for these early George V half crowns.

The obverse is Bertram Mackennal's bare head of the King facing left, with GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX and BM on the truncation. Clayton describes this original portrait as in fairly high relief, and the Royal Mint Museum says it was technically unsuited to coinage. The edge is milled.

Collecting notes

1911 to 1913 are the lower dates, and Clayton also lists a 1911 proof. The wartime dates are common. No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this type.

The 1920 to 1926 half crown keeps the same design in .500 silver, so the date is the quickest check for sterling. Half crowns were not carried into decimal coinage, and the Royal Mint Museum records that they ceased to be legal tender in January 1970.