Royal Shield 5p (2008 to 2022)

The shield 5p was produced in huge numbers, and circulated coins of every date trade at face value. The date that stands apart is 2018, made only for brilliant uncirculated and proof sets, so it is the one shield 5p that never went into change. Among the circulation dates, 2021 had the smallest run. The 2008 coins with a fully inverted reverse are the version error collectors look for. Otherwise condition only matters for uncirculated set coins.

With 3,787,040,420 struck for circulation, the Royal Shield 5p is the fourth rarest of the 5 ranked 5p designs and has the 189th 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 Crowned thistle (NEW PENCE, large) 5p, with 1,129,833,250 struck, and the next more common is the Crowned thistle (small) 5p, with 6,486,727,505 struck.

Its lowest circulation mintage was in 2021, with 28,000,000 struck.

Look for FIVE PENCE written straight across the middle of the coin, with parts of all four shield quarters around it and no beaded border. Turn the coin over for the year, which moved to the obverse with this design. Coins dated 2008 to 2010 are cupro-nickel and not magnetic, while 2011 onwards are nickel-plated steel and cling to a magnet. Coins dated 2015 exist with Ian Rank-Broadley's older portrait or Jody Clark's newer one. On some 2008 coins the reverse is rotated against the obverse, in some cases far enough to sit upside down.

Known varieties of the Royal Shield 5p, all listed among the UK error coins and varieties:

• 2008 rotated die: Some 2008 Royal Shield 5p coins have the reverse turned against the obverse, up to 180 degrees so the reverse is upside down.
• Cupro-nickel or nickel-plated steel: Coins dated 2008 to 2010 are cupro-nickel and not magnetic; coins dated 2011 onwards are nickel-plated steel and magnetic.

When the Royal Mint announced in April 2008 that Matthew Dent had won its competition for new coin reverses, his plan was a shield broken into pieces, with each coin from the 1p to the 50p holding one section. The 5p sits at the heart of it. It shows the centre of the Royal Shield of Arms, the point where all four quarters meet, so a little of each appears: a lion of England at upper left, the fleur-de-lis border of the Scottish quarter at upper right, the top of the Irish harp at lower left and another English lion at lower right. FIVE PENCE runs straight across the middle, split by the vertical line, with FIVE on the left and PENCE on the right. The beaded border was dropped and the date moved to the heads side. The coins were cupro-nickel until the 2011 date, when the 5p switched to nickel-plated steel to cut production costs; the first steel 5ps did not reach circulation until January 2012, giving vending machine operators time to update. Jody Clark's portrait of the Queen arrived in 2015.