just picked up this tiny 1823 George IIII Maundy Twopence (Spink 3820) great detail for such a small coin...in case you are wondering what a maundy coin is: http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/Corp_british_coinage/Maundy_Money.asp The Royal Maundy is an ancient ceremony which has its origin in the commandment Christ gave after washing the feet of his disciples on the day before Good Friday. The commandment, or mandatum, 'that ye love one another' (John XIII 34) is still recalled regularly by Christian churches throughout the world. The ceremony of washing the feet of the poor which was accompanied by gifts of food and clothing, can be traced back to the fourth century. It seems to have been the custom as early as the thirteenth century for members of the royal family to take part in Maundy ceremonies, to distribute money and gifts, and to recall Christ's simple act of humility by washing the feet of the poor. Henry IV began the practice of relating the number of recipients of gifts to the sovereign's age, and as it became the custom of the sovereign to perform the ceremony, the event became known as the Royal Maundy. In the eighteenth century the act of washing the feet of the poor was discontinued and in the nineteenth century money allowances were substituted for the various gifts of food and clothing. Maundy money as such started in the reign of Charles II with an undated issue of hammered coins in 1662. The coins were a fourpenny, threepenny, twopenny and one penny piece but it was not until 1670 that a dated set of all four coins appeared. Prior to this, ordinary coinage was used for Maundy gifts, silver pennies alone being used by the Tudors and Stuarts for the ceremony. The original composition of the coins was Sterling (0.925) silver. In common with all circulating British silver coins, the fineness was reduced to 0.500 in 1921. In 1947, silver was removed from all circulating British coins in favour of cupronickel, but it was felt to be inappropriate to strike Maundy money in such debased metal, so unusually the fineness was restored to 0.925, where it remains to the present day. In 1971, British currency was decimalised, with 100 new pence instead of 20 shillings of 12 pence (240 pence) in a pound. The design of the Maundy money was not changed at all, so instead of being worth 1, 2, 3, or 4 old pence, the coins are now worth 1, 2, 3, or 4 new pence, each one being worth 2.4 times its former value. As there is no difference in the design or weight between pre- and post-1971 coins, it was uniquely decided to revalue all pre-decimal Maundy coins back to 1822 at the equivalent value in new pence, i.e. the face value of each coin was increased by a factor of 2.4 overnight. All Maundy coins, back to 1822, remain legal tender in Britain at their stated value in new pence.
Drusus,Maundy money is of interest to me anyway,not just because it was English (1660-1707) & British (1707 onwards),but because I am Anglican anyway. King George IV's Maundy coins are not easy to find,but they are underrated,in my view.The 1822 Maundy 3d. is a dear coin,not just because it was struck with an obverse of the Maundy 2d. (1/2 Groat). Aidan.
There is an antique dealer here in Christchurch (NZ) that has the full set of 4 coins of that year (i think) in the plush case. Nice coin by the way!!
I have the same one, but from 1826. The head was designed by Pistrucci, the same artist who designed the "St-George and the dragon"-design on the sovereigns. On this series he made a portrait of George IV as a Roman emperor.
Very nice coin, Drusus. I also liked you're description of the Maundy Ceremony. I only have one maundy piece myself. Its an 1893 twopence. I got a bit of a deal on it because the seller didn't realize it was maundy! (doh!)
Here's an article that will be right up your streets,as it were; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday . Aidan.
I got that info from: http://www.maundy.com/maundy_money.html it was uniquely decided to revalue all pre-decimal Maundy coins back to 1822 at the equivalent value in new pence, i.e. the face value of each coin was increased by a factor of 2.4 overnight. All Maundy coins, back to 1822, remain legal tender in Britain at their stated value in new pence. I could not verify that info on the royal mint website... http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/Corp_british_coinage/Maundy_Money.asp
