Five Pounds 2017 Westminster Abbey, Coin from United Kingdom - detailed information

At the time of decimalisation in 1971, the United Kingdom Crown coin (equal to 5 shillings) was redenominated as a 25p coin and pieces struck prior to 1990 - all the way back to 1818 - continue to be legal tender for that amount. The old denomination had been a regular circulating coin in the 19th century, but in the 20th century it became more of a commemorative denomination.

The Royal Mint continued issuing commemorative coins in the same format - using the traditional coin dimensions, but in copper-nickel. These were initially also denominated as 25 pence but the "Crown" was changed in 1990 to a commemorative £5 (five pound) coin, having the same dimensions and weight but with a face value twenty times as great.

The denomination is used to mark special occasions, usually royal in theme, rather than for use in general circulation. Although not circulating, these coins are legal tender.

This £5 Crown-sized coin is part of a four-coin set of silver coins called "Portraits of Britain", which is the third in a series of sets issued over several years. The 2017 set features iconic buildings from around the United Kingdom; this coin shows Westminster Abbey in London.

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. The building itself was a Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar" - a church responsible directly to the sovereign.

According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site (then known as Thorn Ey - Thorn Island) in the seventh century, at the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London. Construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III.

Designed by Royal Mint engravers Laura Clancy and Glyn Davies, each attraction is viewed as though through the eyes of a visitor, giving the coins the feel of an impressionist painting, enhanced by the trichromatic colour-printing.

The coins were issued in Proof FDC grade in sterling silver only.