british quasi-circulating coins inconsistency [solved]

the monometallic £2s (N#4410, N#21883, N#19473, N#13387, N#13389, N#13390, and N#13391), the 25p crowns (N#5982,  N#5488, N#5981, and N#3076), and the £5 crowns (there's 19, i can link if needed, but it's going to be an absolutely massive block so i won't unprompted) are all listed as being produced in high numbers and according to the comments text were available “at face value from most post offices and banks”… but the £2s are listed as circulating commemoratives while the crowns are listed as non-circulating?

worth noting before i continue: i've heard a couple people mention the £2s circulated, and this guy says the 25p crowns circulated (no easily found data on the £5 crowns)

i think they should all listed as circulating commemoratives (since they did circulate and you only paid face value to get them), but they could also all be listed as non-circulating (since that was the mint's intention), but either way i think this should be fixed

side note: almost all of these (except N#19473 and N#6627, which don't specify a general quantity) say “produced in their millions” (or, for the 2006-8 crowns, thousands), but i don't think that's grammatically/linguistically/somethingally correct? i'd change “their” to “the”, but it isn't terribly important i suppose

I think the difference being that the £2 were pushed out to cash centres to be used by ordinary folk. Whereas the 25p/£5 coins people had to opt in to get them. It is not normal at all to get a £5 in your change in the UK. I think its semantic as to whether the coins actually circulated, they did not circulate in everyday parlance.

Interestingly The Royal Mint website states them as commemorative struck to a circulating standard (probably to keep cost down), the expectation was that they were designed for numismatic purposes but do have legal tender status so can circulate.

Commemorative Coin Sales | The Royal Mint

Commemorative Crowns 1972 - 2008|The Royal Mint

i just noticed the link i tried to put in the “this guy” didn't work… https://en.numista.com/forum/topic50023.html#p417188

anyway i'm not completely convinced (but you are more experienced than i am so ¯⁠⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ ), guess i'll see if anyone else has an opinion

unrealism

i just noticed the link i tried to put in the “this guy” didn't work… https://en.numista.com/forum/topic50023.html#p417188

 

anyway i'm not completely convinced (but you are more experienced than i am so ¯⁠⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ ), guess i'll see if anyone else has an opinion

Having not been alive in the 1970s I do not know whether they actually circulated in shops. However, with 37million silver jubilee coins minted I imagine it wouldn't be a great stretch of the imagination to think that some were used in shops! Also, I believe pretty much every school child got given one at school…Happy to be corrected on anyone who was alive when these coins were issued!

Hello,

I set this as done, since there is nothing for me as an admin to actually do on the pages right now. I would also propose asking on coin identification and information forum part.

Best regards,

Jarek

I have lived in the UK for a long time. 25p and £5 coins have never circulated to my knowledge. 

I do remember my suspicion when I first got a £2 coin in change sometime in the 1980s, and thought that I had been scammed with some sort of worthless collectible - the post office took it, so no worries.

Hibernia

I have lived in the UK for a long time. 25p and £5 coins have never circulated to my knowledge. 

 

I do remember my suspicion when I first got a £2 coin in change sometime in the 1980s, and thought that I had been scammed with some sort of worthless collectible - the post office took it, so no worries.

I saw the 25p coins in circulation around the time they came out. Very limited, but they were used. The Royal Mint Annual Report from 1972 indicates that over 7 million crowns were "issued", not sold.

I don't recall seeing any of the single metal £2 coins at the time of their issue but the number of loose pieces one encounters and the mint's own figures shows they were released into circulation.

I know the early £5 coins could be got at face value from banks but the lower mintages (the Diana coin being the one exception) do indicate a lack of circulation.