2011 5p Coin
The 2011 5p is a 5p coin struck for circulation with 50.4 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2011
- Circulation mintage
- 50,400,000
- 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 2011 5p worth?
50.4 million were made, so the 2011 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 2011 5p rare?
- No. 50.4 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2011 5p coins were made?
- 50,400,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2011 5p made of?
- Nickel-plated steel. It weighs 3.25 g and measures 18 mm.
- Is the 2011 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 2011 5p coin in context
For more than forty years the 5p had been solid cupronickel, an alloy of copper and nickel. By the 2000s nickel had become expensive and the cost of making low value coins from it was hard to justify. The answer was plated steel. A steel core with a thin nickel coating looks almost the same in the hand and costs far less. The Royal Mint already had long experience of plated steel, having used a copper-plated version for the 1p and 2p since 1992, so the 5p and 10p were the obvious next candidates.
The first nickel-plated steel 5ps are dated 2011. Only 50,400,000 were struck for circulation, a sharp fall from the 396,245,500 of 2010 and one of the lower figures for the small 5p. Output then rose to 339,802,350 in 2012 and kept climbing to 885,004,520 in 2014, the peak of the shield design, as the new coins went out in large numbers. The switch was not entirely painless. Vending and parking machines that judged coins by their metal had to be adjusted, so the 2011 steel coins were held back and only reached change from January 2012.
How to recognize it
Nothing on the faces changed. The reverse is Matthew Dent's section of the Royal Shield with FIVE PENCE and the obverse is Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen with the 2011 date. The difference is inside. The coin is steel plated with nickel, still 18 mm and 3.25 g but slightly thicker than before, because steel is less dense than cupronickel. The edge is milled as before and the design is unchanged from 2010. Hold a magnet to it and the coin will jump to meet it, which is the easiest way to tell a steel 5p from an older one without reading the date.
The other side carries Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, used from 1998 to 2015.
2011 5p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2011 5p ranks 7th lowest of 46 5p dates and varieties from 1968 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 2020 5p (49.2 million); the next more common is the 1978 5p (61.1 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1990 5p with 1.63 billion, about 32 times as many. The scarcest is the 1977 5p with 24.3 million, 2.1 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 2011 output was 7.9 times fewer than 2010 and 6.7 times fewer than 2012.
Over the 2010s the Mint produced 3.37 billion 5p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2011 5p accounts for 1.5% of that.
What to check on your 2011 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: 2011 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.
The 2011 5p is the first magnetic 5p and one of the lower mintages of the small coin, which gives it a little extra interest for date collectors. It is still a face value coin when worn. Some collectors keep a 2010 cupronickel 5p beside a 2011 steel one with a small magnet as a simple demonstration of the change. Look for coins with bright plating and no spots of rust or pitting. Once the plating is broken, steel coins can discolor badly.
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 | 2011 |
| Circulation mintage | 50,400,000 |
| Composition | Nickel-plated steel |
| Weight | 3.25 g |
| Diameter | 18 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Portrait | Rank-Broadley |
Frequently asked questions
Why does a magnet pick up a modern 5p?
Because it is made of steel. Since 2011 the 5p has been nickel-plated steel rather than solid cupronickel. Any 5p dated 2011 or later should stick to a magnet, while earlier dates should not, which makes a quick test for the metal.
Is the 2011 5p worth keeping?
As money it is face value. For a date set it is well worth having, because it is the first steel 5p and only 50,400,000 were made, far below the years either side. A bright, unworn example is the one to keep.
Mintage figures: Five pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.