Great Britain Pence, Shilling, Crown (Commonwealth, Cromwell) (Fakes are possible) 1649 to 1660

You have a major coin, Truus. There are several different denominations minted in this 'Commonwealth' series. The specimen in our picture is a crown, 5 shillings, on sale at Stack's Bowers for $25,000 US dollars. This is a good price for such am amazing coin. Most of these coins are in far worse shape than Stack's example.

CoinQuest thanks Stack's Bowers for use of their coin photo.

Taken together, the gold and silver issues in this series are known as 'Cromwell Coins' in honor of Oliver Cromwell (1599 to 1658) the great military and political leader of England, Scotland and Ireland. There is a web site dedicated to these coins at (where else?) CromwellCoins.com. This page applies to the silver issues only.

The first order of business with this and any other valuable coin is to determine authenticity. Counterfeits abound in the rare coin market thanks (mostly) to China's thriving counterfeit industry. Be sure you know the history of any coin like this, and if you are buying or selling, be sure you trust the other party explicitly.

The listings below are very approximate. Since this is a major numismatic (coin collecting) rarity, consult a knowledgeable collector or coin dealer for more precise estimates of value.

The denomination shows on the double-shield side, in Roman numerals at the top of the coin. Some of the values change with the date of the coin. The listings below are average over all dates, except as noted.

SILVER PENNY (I above shields)
worn: $20 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $100
well preserved: $300

TWO PENCE (II above shields)
worn: $20 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $120
well preserved: $350

SIX PENCE (VI above shields)
worn: $100 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $850
well preserved: $1600

SHILLING (XII above shields)
worn: $80 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $900
well preserved: $2000

HALF CROWN (II.vi above shields)
worn: $250 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $1200
well preserved: $2800
half crowns dated 1655 catalog for $3500 in average circulated condition

CROWN (V above shields)
worn: $500 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $2500
well preserved: $5000
crowns dated 1649 catalog for $7500 in average circulated condition
cqLastNotify