Coinage Act 1971

2 Legal tender

(1) Coins made by the Mint in accordance with this Act and not called in by proclamation under section 3 of this Act shall be legal tender as follows, that is to say—

(a) gold coins, for payment of any amount;

(b) coins of cupro-nickel or silver of denominations of more than 10 new pence, for payment of any amount not exceeding £10;

(c) coins of cupro-nickel or silver of denominations of not more than 10 new pence, for payment of any amount not exceeding £5;

(d) coins of bronze, for payment of any amount not exceeding 20 new pence;

(e) other coins, if made current by a proclamation made under this Act, for payment of any amount not exceeding such amount as may be specified in the proclamation;

but gold coins shall not be legal tender if their weight has become less than that specified in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act as the least current weight.

(2) References in subsection (1) of this section to coins of any denomination include references to coins treated as being of such a denomination by virtue of a proclamation made in pursuance of section 15(5) of the [1969 c. 19.] Decimal Currency Act 1969 ; and silver coins of the Queen's Maundy money issued before 15th February 1971 shall be treated for the purposes of this section as being denominated in the same number of new pence as the number of pence in which they were denominated.