Winston Churchill appears on the new polymer £5 note, and its surprising and amusing to see people trading them on a well known auction site. Apart from a few very early issues this note is worth £5 and that’s where its value will stay. By contrast if you go back to 1965 a Crown coin, (5 Shillings, or 25p to those who pretend not to be old enough to remember) was issued to commemorate his death. It was issued in large numbers and people ‘Invested’ in them at the time in huge quantities, sometimes hundreds or thousands of coins. The design was and is very controversial but I happen to think it is great and ahead of its time. Also this was the first time in our history that the head of a commoner shared a coin with the head of a Monarch, that being Elizabeth II who features on the other side. So was it a good investment back in 1965? Well a gallon of petrol cost the equivalent of 25p at the time, today that is about £5. I will sell you a Churchill crown for a couple of pounds, so no it wasn't! As for the new £5 note, look at it for a day or two, show your friends, and then spend it.
