The crown, originally known as the "crown of the double rose", was an English coin introduced as part of King Henry VIII's monetary reform of 1526, with a value of five shillings (60 pence).
The first such coins were minted in 22 carat "crown gold", and the first silver crowns were produced in 1551 during the brief reign of King Edward VI. However, some crowns continued to be minted in gold until 1662. No crowns were minted in the reign of Mary I, but silver as well as gold crowns again appeared in the reign of her successor Elizabeth I. Until the time of the Commonwealth of England it was usual for some crowns to be minted in gold as well as in silver, so both versions of the coin can be found for James I and Charles I.
With the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, the English crown was superseded by the British Crown and then the United Kingdom Crown, which is still minted today as a decimal crown-sized commemorative, although since 1990 with a face value of five pounds. |
