Crowned thistle (small) 5p (1990 to 2008)

Circulated thistle 5ps of every date trade at face value, because most years were struck in enormous numbers, the 1990 launch year above all. Collectors look for the dates that break the pattern: 1993, which exists only in proof and brilliant uncirculated sets, and the 2008 thistle coins, the smallest circulation date of the run. The two 1990 edge types attract specialists. Set coins from 1990 to 2008 also show small reverse die differences from circulation coins, and condition matters most for those.

With 6,486,727,505 struck for circulation, the Crowned thistle (small) 5p is the fifth rarest of the 5 ranked 5p designs and has the 192nd lowest mintage of all 194 circulating UK designs. That puts it in the Common band, for mintages 10,000,000 or more.

No 5p design has a higher circulation mintage. The next rarer is the Royal Shield 5p, with 3,787,040,420 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 2008, with 92,880,000 struck.

Look for the small 5p with a crowned thistle, FIVE PENCE along the top and a beaded border. The later shield 5p has no beads and shows part of a shield instead. Dates run from 1990 to 2008, and there is no 1993 coin in change, because that year was made only for sets. Coins dated 1990 come with two edge profiles, one rounded, sometimes called a wired edge, and one much squarer. None of these coins is magnetic.

Known varieties of the Crowned thistle (small) 5p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• 1990 rounded and square edges: 1990 5p coins come with two distinct edge profiles, one rounded (also called a wired edge) and one much squarer.
• Set coin die differences: Brilliant uncirculated set coins dated 1990 to 2008 show minor reverse die differences from circulation coins.

After a review of the coinage in 1987, the government announced a smaller 5p. The new coin entered circulation on 27 June 1990, cut from the old shilling size to 18 mm and weighing a little over half as much. Christopher Ironside's crowned thistle made the move unchanged: the badge of Scotland with a crown above the thistle head, spiky leaves spreading out, FIVE PENCE along the top of the rim, the numeral 5 underneath and a ring of beads. The large 5ps, and the shillings still in use beside them, were withdrawn on 31 December 1990. Raphael Maklouf's portrait of the Queen was on the heads side at first, and Ian Rank-Broadley's took over in 1998. The small thistle 5p was cupro-nickel for its whole run. In 2008 it was struck alongside Matthew Dent's new Royal Shield 5p before being retired, which makes 2008 the last year of a thistle first seen on the 5p in 1968.