1972 Silver Wedding Anniversary Crown

The 1972 British Crown was issued to commemorate the 25th wedding anniversary of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

This coin is a base metal coin, and is not made of silver. Coins are sold as ordinary circulation and are selected at random. We do have a variety of assorted coins available so if you want a good higher grade specimen please get in touch on live chat or 01253 343081 and we can sort, grade and price one up for you. If you're interested in a bag of the coins, make us an offer! 

1947 - 1972

The wedding took place at Westminster Abbey on the 20th November 1947, and was regarded as an important state occasion. Much had changed in the twenty-five years which followed. King George VI died in 1952, and his daughter Elizabeth became Queen on his death, and being formally crowned the following year. In 1971, the British coinage underwent a major change from the old £sd system of pounds, shillings and pence, to be replaced by a decimal system. Whilst the pound was retained, there were 100 "new pennies" to the pound.

A New Denomination

The 1972 crown was the first British coin to have a face value of 25 pence. Previous crowns had been Five Shillings face value. The absence of an inscription denoting the face value now causes some confusion, particularly because, as from 1990, it appears to have been decided that future crowns would assume a Five Pounds face value.

We are frequently asked why the 1972 crown, and others do not carry a mark of value. It may be more relevant to ask why it is necessary for most modern coins to carry a statement of their value. In bygone times, most people knew what coins were worth, they did not need to rely on an inscription on the coin to inform them. This would be an interesting subject for further study.

From the introduction of the first crown in 1544, crowns did not carry a mark of value. Only briefly did crowns ever carry such a mark, the occasions being as follows, very rare Charles I Scarborough siege coinage, Commonwealth (1649 - 1660) crowns, and Charles II second issue hammered gold crowns. The value mark on all these was a letter "V", the Roman numeral for 5. Apart from these, the first time that crowns bore a denomination was from 1927, when the word "CROWN" appeared on them.

On the three crowns issued between 1951 and 1960, the value "Five Shillings" appeared, but this was again omitted from the Churchill Commemorative crown of 1965. Britain had only just completed decimalisation in 1971, it may have been sensible, with hindsight, to have shown the new decimal equivalent - 25 New Pence - on this and subsequent crown issues.

The omission may have been partly historic, for reasons given above, or it may have been partly because crowns had not been part of the regular British coinage since about 1914, and the main purpose of the 1972 issue was as a commemorative piece, which was never primarily intended to circulate.

The second (decimal) portrait of the Queen facing right, designed by Arnold Machin.

D G REG F D ELIZABETH II

The crowned letters EP within a floral garland, the naked figure of Eros at the centre, designed also by Arnold Machin.

ELIZABETH AND PHILIP 20 NOVEMBER 1947 - 1972