page_title: Coins of the pound sterling
section_title: Denominations
hierarchical_section_title: Coins of the pound sterling / Pre-decimal coinage / Denominations
caption_attribution_description: English: 2 shillings 1949
context_page_description: The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories is denominated in pounds sterling, and, since the introduction of the two-pound coin in 1994, ranges in value from one penny to two pounds. Since decimalisation, on 15 February 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. Before decimalisation, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. British coins are minted by the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales. The Royal Mint also commissions the coins' designs.
  As of 14 October 2019, there were an estimated 29 billion coins circulating in the United Kingdom.
  The first decimal coins were circulated in 1968. These were the five pence and ten pence, and had values of one shilling and two shillings, respectively, under the pre-decimal £sd system. The decimal coins are minted in copper-plated steel, nickel-plated steel, cupronickel and nickel-brass. The two-pound coins, and, as from 28 March 2017 the new one-pound coins, are bimetallic.
context_section_description: In the years just prior to decimalisation, the circulating British coins were:
  The farthing (​¹⁄₄d) had been demonetised on 1 January 1961, whilst the crown (5/-) was issued periodically as a commemorative coin but rarely found in circulation.
  The crown, half crown, florin, shilling, and sixpence were cupronickel coins (in historical times silver or silver alloy); the penny, halfpenny, and farthing were bronze; and the threepence was a twelve-sided nickel-brass coin (historically it was a small silver coin).
  Some of the pre-decimalisation coins with exact decimal equivalent values continued in use after 1971 alongside the new coins, albeit with new names (the shilling became equivalent to the 5p coin, with the florin equating to 10p), and the others were withdrawn almost immediately. The use of florins and shillings as legal tender in this way ended in 1991 and 1993 when the 5p and 10p coins were replaced with smaller versions. Indeed, while pre-decimalisation shillings were used as 5p coins, for a while after decimalisation many people continued to call the new 5p coin a shilling, since it remained ​¹⁄₂₀ of a pound, but was now counted as 5p (five new pence) instead of 12d (twelve old pennies). The pre-decimalisation sixpence, also known as a sixpenny bit or sixpenny piece, was equivalent to ​2 ¹⁄₂p, but was demonetised in 1980.
caption: 2 shilling coin or florin
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