Crowned thistle (FIVE PENCE, large) 5p (1982 to 1990)

Worn coins of the three circulation dates are common and sell for very little, even though the large 5p can no longer be spent. Collectors look for the set-only dates, 1982 to 1986 and the large 1990 coin, which survive mostly in uncirculated or proof condition. Of the circulation dates, 1987 had the smallest run. Beyond the date, condition decides the price, and original lustre with a crisp thistle counts for far more than a worn surface.

With 270,370,610 struck for circulation, the Crowned thistle (FIVE PENCE, large) 5p is the second rarest of the 5 ranked 5p designs and has the 172nd lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.

The next rarer 5p is the Oak Leaf 5p, with 51,400,000 struck, and the next more common is the Crowned thistle (NEW PENCE, large) 5p, with 1,129,833,250 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 1987, with 48,220,000 struck.

This is a big 5p, the size of a shilling, with FIVE PENCE above the crowned thistle. If it reads NEW PENCE, it is the earlier 1968 to 1981 type; if it is small, it is the 5p introduced in 1990. Read the date at the end of the legend round the portrait. A large FIVE PENCE coin dated 1987, 1988 or 1989 could have come from change. Any other date, from 1982 to 1986 or 1990, came from a proof or brilliant uncirculated set.

In 1982 the wording on the 5p changed from NEW PENCE to FIVE PENCE, in step with the other decimal coins that year. Nothing else about Christopher Ironside's reverse moved. It still shows the badge of Scotland, the royally crowned thistle, with the crown over the flower head, leaves spreading to both sides, the numeral 5 below and a beaded border, and FIVE PENCE now follows the rim above the crown. The coin also kept the old shilling size. The dates 1982 to 1986 were struck only for proof and brilliant uncirculated sets, and circulation coins followed in 1987, 1988 and 1989. Arnold Machin's portrait of the Queen appears on coins to 1984 and Raphael Maklouf's from 1985. This version had a short life. A review of the coinage in 1987 led to a smaller 5p in June 1990, and the large coins were withdrawn at the end of that year. Large coins dated 1990 were made only for the annual sets.