2008 Shield Reverse 5p Coin
The 2008 Shield Reverse 5p is a 5p coin struck for circulation with 165.2 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2008
- Circulation mintage
- 165,172,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel)
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 2008 Shield Reverse 5p worth?
165.2 million were made, so the 2008 Shield Reverse 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 2008 Shield Reverse 5p rare?
- No. 165.2 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2008 Shield Reverse 5p coins were made?
- 165,172,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2008 Shield Reverse 5p made of?
- Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). It weighs 3.25 g and measures 18 mm.
- Is the 2008 Shield Reverse 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 2008 5p coin in context
The Royal Mint ran a public competition to redesign the reverses of the everyday coins, the first full change since the decimal designs were chosen in the 1960s. The winner was Matthew Dent. His idea was simple and clever. Rather than give each coin a separate emblem, he divided the Royal Shield of Arms into sections and placed one on each coin from 1p to 50p. Put the six together and the shield is whole. The round pound of the time showed the complete shield on its own, so a single pocketful of change could hold the entire design twice over.
The new 5p went into circulation during 2008 and the Mint struck 165,172,000 of them dated that year, compared with 92,880,000 thistle coins. Output then settled at 132,960,300 in 2009 before leaping to 396,245,500 in 2010. The shield pieces were a talking point from the start, not least because the value now appears only in words. Plenty of people loved the puzzle and began collecting full sets of the six coins to rebuild the shield on a table. That habit kept many bright 2008 coins out of circulation, which is why clean examples are still easy to find.
How to recognize it
Dent's 5p shows one section of the Royal Shield with the words FIVE PENCE. There is no numeral on this side and no date; the date stays on the obverse, alongside Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen in a tiara and the legend ELIZABETH II D G REG F D. The coin itself did not change. It is still the small cupronickel 5p of 1990, 18 mm across and 3.25 g in weight with a milled edge, so the 2008 shield coin is not magnetic. Only from 2011 did the shield 5p move to plated steel, which makes the cupronickel shield years of 2008 to 2010 a small group of their own.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2008 Shield Reverse 5p by the numbers
By the numbers, the 2008 Shield Reverse 5p ranks 21st lowest of 46 5p dates and varieties from 1968 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2015 Rank-Broadley Portrait 5p (163 million); the next more common is the 1995 5p (183.4 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1990 5p with 1.63 billion, about 9.9 times as many. The scarcest is the 1977 5p with 24.3 million, 6.8 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 2008 output was 1.5 times fewer than 2007 and 1.2 times the 2009 figure. Other 2008 5p coins: 2008 Old Reverse 5p (92.9 million).
Over the 2000s the Mint produced 2.74 billion 5p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2008 Shield Reverse 5p accounts for 6.0% of that.
What to check on your 2008 Shield Reverse 5p
- Confirm the date and the variety (shield reverse). Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Try a magnet: cupronickel 5p coins like this 2008 coin do not stick, while the steel coins of later years do.
- 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 2008 shield 5p is a face value coin. The interest lies in the year: this is the first date of the design and the only year in which both the thistle and the shield 5p were struck, so the two together tell the story neatly. Collectors putting together the full shield usually want all six 2008 coins in matching condition. The Royal Mint sold sets for exactly that purpose. For a single date, pick a bright, unmarked coin. The fine lines in the shield wear quickly.
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 | 2008 |
| Circulation mintage | 165,172,000 |
| Composition | Cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) |
| Weight | 3.25 g |
| Diameter | 18 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Other 2008 5p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 Old Reverse 5p Coin | 92,880,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Does it take all six coins to see the whole shield?
Yes. Each coin from 1p to 50p carries a different section of the Royal Shield. Only when the six are arranged correctly does the full design appear. The round pound of the same period showed the complete shield on one coin.
Is a 2008 shield 5p rare?
No. The Royal Mint struck 165,172,000 of them, almost twice as many as the old thistle coins dated 2008. Worn ones are face value. The thistle version of the same year is the less common of the pair and the better one to look for.
Mintage figures: Five pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.