Maunty coins

Dear friends,
I'm from India. My knowledge of foreign coins is limited. Yesterday, a dealer showed me a 3 pence coin from the Great Britain and told that it is a maunty coin and so it would cost more (about 20 times more than the normal 3 pence coins). Can any one tell me how can i distinguish between a maunty coin and a normal coin? Your help will be highly appreciated.. Please help..

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Hello spiraltreet.

Here is a wikipedia article on the maundy sets that you may find helpful to answer your question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_money

I don't know much about it myself.

 

A quick "filter" for coins dated after they stopped using silver for low denomination circulation coins is just checking the metallic content. If it isn't silver, it isn't a Maundy coin.

 

If it's a Maundy coin from the early '70s, your dealer could be right. There isn't a three pence coin since decimalization in 1970, so if it's dated 1970 or later (and it's real) it's Maundy money. Since the Queen didn't turn 50 until 1976, that means there were less than 100 minted. A rarity!

 

The first Maundy coins were struck during the reign of King Charles II (1660-85).Surprisingly,these turn up quite often,but they are nice English coins.The first British Maundy money coins were struck in 1708,as the union of England & Scotland took place in 1707.Maundy coins after the reign of King Edward VII (1901-10) are rather difficult to find.I was very lucky to have bought a 1964 Maundy 4d. a few years ago.That is a difficult coin to find.Being an Anglican,Maundy coins are of interest to me anyway.They're essential items to have represented in your British Isles & British Commonwealth coin collection.

Aidan.

 

The age of the monarch is how many 'pence' she gives out at the ceremonies. So if she's 30 she gives out 30 pence, which would equate to three full sets (since a full set is 10p). If she was 36 she'd give out three full sets and then a four pence and a two pence to each and every recipient (the latter two being loose coins). If she'd 50 then she give out five full sets. This year she'll either be giving out either 7 full sets and then a 4, a 3 and a 2 to everyone, or she'll be giving out 8 full sets. I dunno which it'll be though because i have no idea when her birthday actually is. But she's 80 this year.

 

I misunderstood how they determined what she was giving out.

Her Majesty was born on the 21st of April, 1926. Because his birthday was in the winter, and he didn't want the public troubled with winter weather, Edward VII established the tradition of celebrating the monarch's birthday officially in June, at the Trooping of the Colour.

 

As One other point of interest maundy cermonies also happened in the reign of Elizabeth I and I think occoured under earlier Monarchs as well. I'm sorry Though I can't recall the writer of the history book that mentions the Elizabethian ceramony but will try and find it.

 

This is true, on Maundy Thursday (which is near Easter sometime) it was common practice for the monarch to give out coins to those that needed them.

It was only in George IV's reign that full sets were issued to recipients (don't quote me on that), prior to that (from Charles II's reign to George III's) the coins given out were only the silver pennies. The 2-4 pence coins were strictly currency pieces.

Before Charles II's milled coinage, hammered silver pennies used to be given out instead. I think this practice goes back to at least Edward II in the early 1300s. (I typed all that from memory, what i can't remember though is whether that was for the maundy handout or whether that was for the touching ceremonies).

Onto touching ceremonies, that was when holed coins (often gold Angels) were given out to the poor to cure them of the king's evil. The King's evil being Scrofula (a type of Tuberculosis), which it was believed that if a monarch touched a person infected with it then they would be cured. A king being like a priest of course he was God's representative on earth and therefore gifted with ritualistic healing powers.

Up until Charles I's reign hammered gold angels (initially in the 1480s they were 6/8d coibs, but by their demise in the 1620s/30s they were 10/- coins) these were given out. From Charles II's reign in the 1660s onwards special gold touch pieces (ready holed) were minted instead and handed out to the people attending the touching ceremony. The last recorded ceremony of this nature was in the early 1700s under Queen Anne. Although it should be noted that William III (Anne's predecessor) as a strict Protestant was having none of it and saw it as Popish superstition and refused to take part.

I believe footwashing was also involved in touching ceremonies. Imagine a monarch washing a pauper's foot... bad image? You bet... especially as they're infected with T.B. (And i believe scrofula version includes not only the lungs but also the limbs too, henxce why Edward VI's fingers and toes turned funny).

 

Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter. It's the day that Christ held the Last Supper with his disciples. At that gathering, Jesus also washed the feet of his disciples as a way of showing his disciples that no work, however gross it might be, was beyond the bounds of our call to the service of others.

Originally, on Maundy Thursday, the monarchs washed the feet of "little people" to signify that they too were humble like Christ. But, as sylvester points out, those "little people" could be rather unpleasant in the cleanliness department. So the tradition developed that the monarch would give them money instead. And here we are today, discussing the traditions, mintages, and values of that money.

 

Ah the footwashing was with the maundy money! I get muddled up between maundy and touching ceremonies. You'll have to forgive me there because it's a long time since i read anything on it.

Rather amusing i find though. Giving them money instead of washing their feet. I can just see king Richard II sat there now... "i'm not washing his feet! Can't we get rid of him? Give him some money perhaps he'll go away..."

 

Thank you so much Sylvester for taking the time to write that, I had heard the term touch pieces for some coins and did not know anything about them the maundy cermony I knew a bit about but really don't have any idea how far back it goes.

 

Maundy Thursday is actually the day before Good Friday.As to the 21st of April,it is also the same date as the anniversary of the declaration of independence from Australia of the Hutt River Province Principality.Her
Majesty will give out 80 Pence (8 sets of 10p.) to 80 men & 80 women this year.I don't know where the ceremony will be held though.It is held in Westminster Abbey one year,then held in another cathedral in England the next year.I'm not sure if the Maundy ceremony has been held in Wales yet.

Aidan.

 

I had a list of where they've been held from about 1953 to about 1998 or so. Of course the monarch giving out the maundy sets is a relatively new thing, i believe Elizabeth II was the first to do it (maybe George VI did it as well?). The current Queen handed out the 1952 George VI sets though, as he'd been dead a few months by that point.

Another interesting fact is that up until 1909 maundy sets could also be purchased from banks at face value. However, in 1909 they put a stop to that and only had the hand out ones done by some important person (not the monarch). Who exactly did hand out the Maundy sets though before it became the monarch's role is a good question.

 

You can find out where the Queen will be for Maundy Thursday at the official website. www.royal.gov.uk

 

OK,so the Queen will hand out 160 sets but how many are actually minted?
If the figures that Doug gave us are any indication,there are a lot more sets that must end up somewhere so what's the deal?

OK..it's official:
Thursday, 13th April 2006
The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will be present at the Maundy Service in Guildford Cathedral, Surrey. Her Majesty will distribute the Royal Maundy during the Service.
So go there and dress kind of raggedy,maybe you'll get lucky.

 

Well, let's see: a quick look at cheaptickets.com turns up an Air New Zealand flight from Los Angeles to London, that can be packaged with a hotel stay for only $1,003. Then, based on my experience in London last August, a rental car to go to Surrey and return will run at least US$100, add in $110 traspportation between LAX and home, (definitely cheaper than daily parking rates), a few meals, a couple of Starbucks coffees and a tee shirt or two at Heathrow, and if you are lucky, your Maundy coins might set you back less than $1,400 - even less if an extensive internet travel agency search turns up a lower package price for air/hotel.