I have various coins that were either billed as half pennies or pennies, but are very similar in size. I'm talking between 1831 and 1855 here. I have 1855 and 1858 pennies that are very large, as well as 1853 and 54 "pennies" that are much smaller. So what I'm wondering is, were the 54 and earlier pennies smaller or are these that I have misidentified half pennies? And if they are pennies, how can I tell the difference between them and the half pennies?
Well Hidden it seems to go like this with the pennies. 1831-37 they wiegh in at 18g. 1841 - 74 they are 9 grams. The 1/2 penneies would be 1/2 the size of the penny for the same year. Got that OK, kind of confusing and they even had silver pennies but we wont go into that.
So since I don't have a scale, do you have any idea what the diameter is? I know that the 1855 and 1858 I have that I am sure are pennies are very large and heavy, seemingly even bigger than the later pennies, with which I am very familiar. From what you say though I suspect that the earlier ones I have are actually half pennies, which means a lot of people selling on eBay need to be informed that they are misidentifying their products.
That is true. Prior to 1860, copper coinage was just that - copper. They are a little wider and heavier than post 1860. So, a pre 1860 coin, if it's between the size of a bronze ½d and 1d, it is a copper ½d. If it's larger than a bronze 1d, it's a copper 1d. Follow similar guidelines for farthings.
You can find out what you want to know by using this link - http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/coins.html#size
