2021 5p Coin
The 2021 5p is a 5p coin struck for circulation with 28 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2021
- Circulation mintage
- 28,000,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Nickel-plated steel
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2021 5p worth?
28 million were made, so the 2021 5p is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition
- A sets-only date
- A genuine mint error
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2021 5p rare?
- No. 28 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2021 5p coins were made?
- 28,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2021 5p made of?
- Nickel-plated steel. It weighs 3.25 g and measures 18 mm.
- Is the 2021 5p still legal tender?
- Yes. The current-size 5p is legal tender, for payments of up to 5 pounds in 5p and 10p coins.
The 2021 5p coin in context
The pandemic hit cash hard. In 2020 shops asked customers to pay by card and many people stopped carrying coins at all. Demand for new 5ps, already falling, dropped further. The Royal Mint struck 28,000,000 5ps dated 2021, the lowest circulation figure of the shield design. Among all 5p dates only 1977, at 24,308,000, had a smaller circulation run, so the 2021 coin sits right next to the old key date of the large thistle coin. Few people noticed at the time, because hardly anyone was handling coins at all.
The slide had started earlier. Output fell from 92,800,000 in 2019 to 49,200,000 in 2020 and then to the 2021 low. It recovered a little to 42,800,000 in 2022 before the King's first 5p in 2023 came in at 32,400,000. Put another way, the four years from 2020 to 2023 together produced fewer than half the 5ps of the single year 2016. Coins that once flowed back to banks every day now sat in jars at home, so the Mint had far less reason to strike new ones.
How to recognize it
The 2021 coin carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in the George IV State Diadem, signed JC, with the date in the legend. Matthew Dent's section of the Royal Shield is on the reverse with FIVE PENCE. Like every 5p since 2011 it is nickel-plated steel, 18 mm across and 3.25 g, so it sticks to a magnet. There is no special design for the year. A 2021 5p is identical to the 2020 and 2022 coins apart from the date, so its low mintage is the only thing that sets it apart and reading the legend is the whole test.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2021 5p by the numbers
Measured by how many were made, the 2021 5p ranks 2nd lowest of 46 5p dates and varieties from 1968 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1977 5p (24.3 million); the next more common is the 2023 5p (32.4 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1990 5p with 1.63 billion, about 58 times as many. The scarcest is the 1977 5p with 24.3 million.
Compared with the dates around it, the 2021 output was 1.8 times fewer than 2020 and 1.5 times fewer than 2022.
Over the 2020s the Mint produced 152.4 million 5p coins across 4 dates and varieties; the 2021 5p accounts for 18% of that.
What to check on your 2021 5p
- Confirm the date. Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Try a magnet: 2021 5p coins are nickel-plated steel and stick to it.
- Look at the surfaces under a light. Coins from sets have unbroken luster and color; change-worn coins are dull and scuffed.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or dipping strips the original color and leaves fine scratches.
A worn 2021 5p is still face value. Twenty eight million is still a lot of coins. A patient search through change will turn one up, though it may take a while. Even so, it is one of the harder modern 5ps to find and it belongs in any date run. Look for a coin with clean plating and sharp lines on the shield. Uncirculated examples from the year's sets are the easiest way to own the date in top condition. They also avoid the scratches that plated coins pick up in pockets.
Matthew Dent's shield five pence (2008 to 2022)
In 2008 the Royal Mint replaced the reverses of all six coins from 1p to 50p for the first time since decimal designs were introduced. Matthew Dent won the open competition with an idea that turned the coins into a puzzle. Each one carries a single section of the Royal Shield of Arms. Laid side by side in the right order, they form the whole shield, while the round pound of the period showed it complete on one coin. The 5p's section comes with FIVE PENCE written in words and no numeral at all, so the value has to be read rather than glanced at.
The metal changed next. From 2011 the 5p has been made of nickel-plated steel instead of solid cupronickel, mainly to cut the cost of nickel. The new coin keeps the 18 mm size and 3.25 g weight but is slightly thicker. Its steel core also makes it magnetic. A magnet is the quickest way to tell a 2011 or later coin from an earlier one. The portrait changed in 2015, when Jody Clark's likeness of the Queen, signed JC, replaced Ian Rank-Broadley's, so that year comes in two versions.
Most shield 5ps were made by the hundred million, with a peak of 885,004,520 in 2014. Then the use of cash fell away. The 2018 coins were made only for sets and output slid through the pandemic years to 28,000,000 in 2021, the lowest of the shield design. Apart from 2018, which you are unlikely to meet in change, none are rare, but the later dates are noticeably harder to find than the early ones. Check any 2015 coin for the portrait. Keep the cleanest 2019 to 2022 coins you come across, since those are the gaps collectors are filling.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 5 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2021 |
| Circulation mintage | 28,000,000 |
| Composition | Nickel-plated steel |
| Weight | 3.25 g |
| Diameter | 18 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Portrait | Clark |
Frequently asked questions
Why were so few 5ps made in 2021?
Cash use fell sharply during the pandemic as people switched to card and contactless payments. With billions of 5ps already in circulation and fewer coins changing hands, the Royal Mint needed to make only 28,000,000 that year.
Is the 2021 5p scarcer than the 2023 one?
By mintage, yes. 28,000,000 were struck in 2021 against 32,400,000 King Charles III 5ps in 2023. The difference is small. Both rank among the lowest circulation figures in the whole history of the 5p.
Mintage figures: Five pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.