HALF CROWN: COIN OF UNITED KINGDOM
Half crown, 1958: United Kingdom
Ruler: Elizabeth II — Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death in 2022.
FID DEF: Latin "Fidei Defensatrix" ("Defender of the Faith" as part of the full title of English, Scottish and later British monarchs since 16th century).
HALF CROWN.
Around the heraldic shield, the initials ER (Latin "Elizabeth Regina" — "Queen Elizabeth").
Below the shield, the small initials of the coin reverse designers: "EF" and "CT" (Edgar Fuller and Cecil Thomas).
Small Royal coat of arms of Great Britain.
ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA: Elizabeth II by the Grace of God Queen.
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
Royal Mint (United Kingdom).
Mintage: 15.745.600.
Since 1971, Great Britain no longer issues crown coins (including 1/2 crowns).
- Copper-nickel: 32 mm - 14.06 g
- Reference price: 2.1$
COIN HALF CROWN — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- UNITED KINGDOM (16th-20th centuries): half crown = 1/2 crown = 1/8 pound
- Member states of the British Commonwealth: Ireland, New Zealand, Malawi, Rhodesia, Turks and Caicos Islands...
HALF CROWN as coin name.
Half Crown — a purely British coin, equal to ½ crown or 2½ shillings, or ⅛ pound.
The issue was carried out by United Kingdom and several dependent territories (member states of the British Commonwealth): Ireland, New Zealand, Malawi, Rhodesia (initially Southern Rhodesia, later Rhodesia and Nyasaland).
The coin was issued from the middle of the 16th century until 1970, when the decimal monetary system was introduced. Since then, 1 pound is equal to 100 pence (a crown and a half crown were abandoned).
Regarding the features, it is worth noting the following characteristics of the half crown coin: the earliest types were gold, until the middle of the 20th century it was minted from silver, and later from a copper-nickel alloy; the weight of this rather large coin has always (at least for the last two centuries of issue) been 14.14 grams.
The name half crown obviously indicates the coin's equal value to half (1/2) a crown.
There are a number of varieties. All of them were minted in English-speaking countries. Therefore, each such coin contains the inscription HALF CROWN — with the exception of Ireland ("LEATH CHORÓIN" or "LEATH ĊORÓIN" in Irish: this coin name is often considered separately as an independent numismatic unit).
Coins whose denomination is indicated in the format "2½ shillings" are also sometimes included in the half crown (for example, the Republic of South Africa in the XIX-XX centuries marked its half crown coins in "2½ SHILLINGS" format).
