Old Survey Of Sixpences In Circulation

I've found some coin surveys I did in the years 1978 - 1989. I was looking for silver and scarce dates before the last pre-decimal coins were withdrawn from circulation.

The old sixpence coin was demonetised in 1980; however, it had become very rare long before that. The coin was reprieved in February 1971 because at the time it was still frequently used in slot machines. The high inflation of the early 1970s meant that the machines were soon converted to accept 5p or 10p coins and the sixpence became redundant.

This is a survey of sixpences obtained from banks in 1978. They were quite hard to obtain, hence the unusual number of coins checked! I was a teenager and had just opened my first bank account, and the cashiers were quite tolerant of my hobby! If you could get hold of sixpence bags in the late 1970s, you stood a much greater chance of finding silver than with 5p or 10p coins (shillings and florins), as far fewer people searched them!

Sixpence Survey 1978

GEORGE V (50% silver from 1920 - 1936)

1922 1
1928 1
1936 1

TOTAL 3

GEORGE VI (50% silver from 1937 - 1946, then cupro-nickel)

1937 1
1938 1
1939 2
1940 1
1941 0
1942 4
1943 2
1944 2
1945 0
1946 5
1947 15
1948 37
1949 16
1950 17
1951 21
1952 0

TOTAL 124

ELIZABETH II (all cupro-nickel)

1953 20
1954 38
1955 40
1956 53
1957 49
1958 67
1959 38
1960 52
1961 52
1962 98
1963 75
1964 79
1965 79
1966 87
1967 130

TOTAL 957


GRAND TOTAL 1084