Start by sorting
Tip the tin out and sort into four piles: gold, silver, copper and bronze, and everything foreign or modern. The first pile is worth its weight at least. The second is worth its weight if it is old enough. The last two are where most of the volume sits and most of the disappointment.
Gold
Sovereigns, half sovereigns, guineas and foreign gold coins carry their bullion value as a floor, and some dates and grades carry more. A full sovereign held £761 of gold on 21 September 2026, and a half sovereign half of that. The sovereign guide covers the dates, the mint marks and what a dealer pays, and the half sovereign guide covers the smaller coin, which sells at a lower percentage of spot for the same gold.
British silver: three dates to remember
British silver coins changed fineness twice in the twentieth century, and the dates decide whether a coin has metal value.
| Struck | Silver content | Metal value |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1920 | Sterling, 925 | Yes, at sterling weight |
| 1920 to 1946 | 500, half silver | Yes, at half the rate |
| 1947 onwards | None, cupronickel | No |
Nothing about the design changes at either date. A 1919 shilling and a 1921 shilling look identical and one holds twice the silver of the other, which is why the date is the first thing to read.
What each coin holds
The weights have not changed since the recoinage of 1816, so the arithmetic is fixed. At the London silver benchmark of £49.23 per troy ounce on 21 September 2026, which is £1.58 per gram of fine silver, each denomination holds this much.
| Coin | Weight | Melt value before 1920 | Melt value 1920 to 1946 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crown, 5 shillings | 28.28 g | £41.40 | £22.38 |
| Half crown | 14.14 g | £20.70 | £11.19 |
| Florin, 2 shillings | 11.31 g | £16.56 | £8.95 |
| Shilling | 5.66 g | £8.28 | £4.48 |
| Sixpence | 2.83 g | £4.14 | £2.24 |
| Threepence | 1.41 g | £2.07 | £1.12 |
These are melt values at the benchmark price. A refiner pays a margin below them, and a dealer buying a bag pays 80 to 90 percent of the figure. Put the total weight into the scrap calculator for the current number, since silver has moved sharply and a figure from last year is not a guide.
A useful shortcut: pre-1920 silver coins were struck at the rate of 66 shillings to the troy pound, so any face value in pre-1920 silver holds the same weight per shilling. Ten pre-1920 half crowns weigh 141 grams and hold £207 of silver.
Half crowns, crowns and the ones people ask about
The half crown is the coin found in quantity more than any other, and the one searched for most. Before 1920 it is worth £20 in metal alone. Between 1920 and 1946 it is worth £11. After 1946 it is worth pennies unless it is uncirculated, and the 1947 to 1967 issues are common in every grade. The half crown guide takes the denomination on its own, with the two dates the standard changed on, the 24 years in which none was struck for circulation, and the five dates whose mintages make them worth checking.
Crowns are the large five-shilling pieces and are collected by date rather than melted. The crown guide takes them on their own, with the 25p of legal tender that sits under every pre-1990 crown and the reason a case matters more than a grade.
| Crown | Note |
|---|---|
| 1935 Jubilee | Millions struck. Common in every grade, worth its silver at best |
| 1937 George VI | Common. £10 to £20 in high grade |
| 1951 Festival of Britain | Cupronickel, not silver. A few pounds |
| 1953 Coronation | Cupronickel. A few pounds |
| 1965 Churchill | Cupronickel, close to 20 million issued. Face value |
| 1887 to 1900 Victorian | Worth checking by date and grade; the Gothic crown is a different order of coin |
A tin holding a Churchill crown is holding the most common British commemorative ever struck. A tin holding a Victorian crown in extremely fine condition is holding something worth a specialist’s opinion.
Copper and bronze
Pennies, halfpennies and farthings from Victoria to Elizabeth II are the bulk of most tins and sell in bags. A kilogram of mixed worn pennies makes a few pounds. The exceptions are known and short.
| Coin | Why |
|---|---|
| 1933 penny | Six or seven exist depending on which pattern is counted. Almost certainly not yours |
| 1869 penny | Genuinely scarce |
| 1875 H penny | Struck at the Heaton mint, scarce |
| 1919 KN and 1918 KN pennies | Kings Norton mint mark, scarce in high grade |
| Any bronze with full original lustre | Grade does the work, not the date |
Worn Victorian pennies are worth pence each, and there are millions of them. The 1933 penny is the coin every tin is hoped to contain and the coin no tin contains.
Maundy money
The tiny silver coins the monarch distributes each Maundy Thursday were struck in sterling throughout, including after 1947 when circulating silver had ended. A set is fourpence, threepence, twopence and penny.
Sets are collected by reign and by year, and complete sets in their original case sell well above their silver. Loose single Maundy coins are common enough to be sold individually and worth a few pounds each. Check the date before anything goes near the scrap pile, because a Maundy coin in a bag of threepences is the mistake that costs the most per gram.
Decimal coins and the change-hunting myth
Newspapers report “rare 50p sells for £1,000” and a tin of change gets checked with hope. The facts are narrower. The 2009 Kew Gardens 50p, with 210,000 struck, sells for £100 to £200 in good condition. A few 2011 Olympic 50p designs and the 2015 Battle of Britain uncrowned variety carry small premiums.
Almost every other commemorative 50p and £2 coin was struck in millions and is worth face value, whatever the listing prices on auction sites suggest. Listing prices are not sales. Search completed sales rather than active ones and the picture changes completely.
Foreign coins
Sort by metal, not by country. Silver dollars, francs, marks, rupees and pesos from before the 1960s have metal value, and most world coinage abandoned silver at about the same time Britain did. Gold has bullion value wherever it was struck. Base-metal foreign coins are worth very little and sell by the kilo.
Two exceptions worth pulling out: American silver dollars before 1936, and any coin from a country that no longer exists in that form, which collectors buy for the history.
Hammered and ancient
Coins struck by hand before 1662, and Roman and Greek coins, are a separate field with their own experts. Do not clean them, do not sort them with the rest, and photograph them separately.
Anything found with a metal detector in England or Wales is subject to the Treasure Act and must be reported to the finds liaison officer through the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which is a legal duty rather than a choice.
Proof sets
Royal Mint proof sets in their cases sell for modest sums, and the 1953 coronation set is common enough to turn up in most families. Later annual sets from the 1970s onwards were bought in quantity and are worth little above face. A proof set is worth more complete and in its case than broken up, so leave it alone.
What to do with the tin
Set aside gold, pre-1947 silver, Maundy coins, anything uncirculated, and anything hammered or foreign silver. Weigh the pre-1947 silver as one lot and use the table above for the floor. Weigh the copper and modern change and expect little.
Then read the grading guide before anyone touches a coin with a cloth, because cleaning is the one action that cannot be undone.
