Do Coins Have To Display Their Denomination?

A crown is/was legal tender in the UK. Most modern coins note the denomination, but some present and many past coins the denomination was determined by the coin size.

Is this your coin? this was an pocket-piece experiment of mine.

Yep, same one.
I saw your thread about this one (you thought it was in a fire if I remember correctly) and since then I have been looking for one.
Mine is still in pretty nice shape. I was surprised I could get it for such a small price in that condition.

See, it doesn't say "Crown" on it anywhere. how confusing.

I'm not big on ancients of foreign coins, so all of the ones I am familliar with say how much they are (were) worth right on them.
I googled the value of a "crown" and it brought me to a page talking about Florins, half penny, schillings, pence, coins with little birdies on them, something is 1/12 of this other thing, and then you have these other coins, this and that, and all sorts of mumbo jumbo... it was all too much for my brain to handle on a friday. Maybe I will read it again after some R&R.

Oh, it's easy baysinger!

One pound is 20 shillings. Twelve pennies to a shilling. A farthing is 1/4 of a penny, a groat is fourpence. We used to have half-groats, but most people refer to them as twopence (pronounced 'tup-pence).

A crown is five shillings (or a quarter of £1) and a half crown therefore two shillings and sixpence. Of course, nowadays that would be twelve and a half pence (P)

I wonder if they called it L/S/D because it felt like your brain was on the stuff?

Now you know why we went decimal! But seriously, if you have any questions about old British coin denominations do please ask. I'll do my best to help!

Many older coins and coins such as the sovereign that have histories stretching back a century or more do not have face values (denominations) on them. It is not the face value stamped onto the coin which gives it legal tender status, it is the face value declared by the laws of the country that issued it which inputes its status as a coin.

Which leads us to another aspect of the subject. A coin which does not have a value stamped on it can easily be re-valued by the government, simply by changing the law. For example, when the British gold coin known as a "guinea" was first issued in 1663, it was valued at exactly one pound, or twenty shillings. But fluctuating gold prices forced them to declare several official re-valuations, raising the face value of all guinea coins up to thirty shillings, then eventually back down to 21 shillings in 1717, where it remained until the guinea was withdrawn in 1816.

On the other hand, if a government wished to re-value coins that had a value stamped on them, they have to recall them, counterstamp them with the new value, and re-issue them - a slow and laborious process. When Costa Rica wished to double the face value of its circulating silver coins in 1923, they had to withdraw and counterstamp them all.

The American government has the right to unilaterally change the face value of its coinage, as well, if it chooses. That's what that line in the Constitution means about Congress having the power "To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin". That the American Congress has never actually done this is more an accident of history than anything else, though in this day and age where face value and intrinsic value have been decoupled, such drastic action seems unlikely.