Pennies... Charles II-

Why were there no copper pennies struck until George III ?
Well, I can't see any that is.. I find it curious that the 1/2d and 1/4d were copper though and only 1p were maundy and silver.. If its right I will just collect the 1/2d instead as a penny here's my battle plan as it stands until someone confirms there was a penny and it all goes out the window (face and palm at the ready..)

For now I'm starting at Charles II and moving forward I have almost all of the more modern pennies both QEII, KGVI I have the 1949 coming too get the other variety, KGV (missing the ME penny)
Edward VII high and low tide, Victoria low tide but higher than Edwards, 3rd and 2nd portrait, just need her earlier coins with trident varieties and without the value, need William IV have George IV, KGIII need his earlier types of 1/2d , KGII have 1/2d, George 1/2d dump 1718, need an Anne, need William III have William and Mary 1694 (date in exergue) need James II and Charles.
After I complete this hit list with atleast one per monarch I intend to head back too the commonwealth days and maybe the last king before it, then I will stop and add the varieties and the pennies of Ireland and Scotland as seperate enterties

 

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because the regal coinage of 1 penny had always been struck in silver from anglo saxon times to the stewarts, at the end of the 18th century the country's copper production was at it's height and for a couple of years merchants and towns had issued various tokens in the penny denomination. the government of the time decided to standardise the coinage of the copious token issues into a nationally circulating regal copper coinage which comprised of 1/4d, 1/2d, 1d, and the cartwheel 2d.
good luck in your quest mark, and don't forget the penny as a coin dates back some 1400 years to the early anglo saxon issues.

 

So only maundy pennies were made I thought they never circulated though ?

 

from cromwell to george 3 maundy pennies were the only ones minted, but like most coins they were often found in circulation as the state of some examples i have seen testifies, the penny is a beatiful series of coins to collect with some absolutely impossible to find (1933, 1952, 1954) but all the same they are great, my favourite issue of them all has always been the cartwheels, if fact i found one in my change in 1966.

 

You found an ounce cartwheel in your change.. Haha I love it ! I can barely remember the big 5,10 and 50 pence coins !

I love the pennies, ill probably pick up some silver maundy ones too then..

I am on the lookout for the 50 & 51 pennies but they won't go in my penny collection same with my 1827 penny I have coming I have a couple of cartwheels one in the UK collection one with oz and the other with SA

 

In your paragraph on what you have, I assume you are talking about Halfpennies of farthings? In Copper/Bronze/Tin:

The Regal Penny starts GIII and you can get all monarchs through to EII
The Regal Halfpenny starts CII and you can do all monarchs through to EII except Anne - none made in her reign.
The Regal Farthing also starts CII through to EII - there is an Anne, but it is technically a pattern, and rather scarce.

All James II and some CII and W&M are in Tin - very difficult to get in any readable condition.

Prior to CII there were copper farthings in James I and Charles I reign, but they do not have the monarch's head or date.

Prior to that even these small denominations would have been in Silver only, and not just for Maundy - mainly because the buying power was quite large compared to today, and the value of the coin was expected to be close to the value of the metal. To make a pennyworth of Copper in James I time would have been quite a large piece of metal. From about James I we became accustomed to the idea of "token" coinage - ie coins that did not have an intrinsic metal worth the denomination of the coin. At first this was acceptable only in small denominations, but gradually expanded until we finally gave up on this link in the 20th Century. (First in coming off the gold standard, and then gradually in removing the silver content.)

Over ten years I have built a collection of almost all dates of all of these - I am still missing some of the tin examples, particularly in James II. I have not gone into all the variations, except when they have dropped in my lap, as there are so many, and many are very pricey. (Eg 1860 penny - at least 16 different varieties with the scarcest commanding over GBP 2000 in barely Fine condition.) Also I have not even tried for the mega-rare dates like 1933, 1952, 1954 pennies as these were never intended as circulation coins.

Good luck with your collection!

 

my collection ranges from the anglo saxon pennies to the decimal issues, with a few scottish pennies as well. oh and paddy, coming down to weymouth again in july this year please re send me your phone number and i will definitely contact you this time.....

 

Wow that's great too know, I have seen a few tin James II coins, I have a copper William and Mary which will do for now

I am a bit miffed there is no Anne coin and the farthing is merely a pattern
It must be like the gun money only starting at a 6d

 

I won't be going that far back ! Commonwealth will do for me, I'm
After the 1972 penny as I have every single type since decimalising exept that which was also produced for sets..
I aim to get one before the penny is de-funked which I believe is coming sooner rather than later !

 

i predict that the penny will cease to exist in another 3 years.........

 

1972 Penny was produced in sets only - you will see it occasionally on the net, but it is always as a result of being broken out from a set. It is the only year from 1971 to 2012 where no circulation pennies were produced.

http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/circulation-coin-mintage-figures/10p-to-half-penny-issued

is a useful website showing the mintages of all the decimal coins for circulation. A link at the top of the page takes you to the higher value coins. In many years where no mintage is shown here, coins were produced in sets only - it is far more difficult to find out how many sets were issued.

 

I really enjoy the English pennies. I have some from 1739 on, but it's a bit hard to find them over here. I did find a 1775 and a 1740's in the foreign change bin at 2 different coin shops. Not bad for a 25 US cent investment. Neither one was in great shape, but they sure beat the other stuff in the bin!

 

They are pretty common place here as you might have guessed but its finding them at decent prices that's hard however if you are willing to wait you will find it.. I got my 1962 6d for £2 !

 

I'll admit to being a bit jealous of you, being able to find coins from the Saxons to the present day. So many different types over there.

 

There are some of us who can only afford the smaller denomination of the coinage we study.

So, unfortunately, the only Queen Anne cooper is the very expensive pattern farthing you mentioned (probably minted sometime later in the 1700s) or the Queen Anne medals. I find those Queen Anne medals chocolatey delicious. :too-cool-for:



guy

 

The silver pennies struck into the very early 19th century were struck for general circulation albeit in fairly small numbers and they really do differ from the Maundy coins in the quality of the strike - but today everybody just refers to them as Maundy coins.

BTW there were penny tokens struck in copper or brass during the 17th century - they were usually about the size of a current 10p coin nowadays.

 

Those must be halfpennies as no pennies were struck until 1797, and they are substantially larger.

Worth looking at them closely because many found over there are actually "evasions" - locally made copies of the British regal coinage made in the early days of your independence. Check for weight and variations from published details. The best are blatant lampoons of the British such as bare-breasted Britannia, or caricature portraits of George III.

 

Ahh yes like George rules, Britons rule, and William Shakespeare

 

From my experience the best examples with the best satirical themes were made in Britain - which at that very time was also going through a social as well as an industrial revolution. In previous time criticising the monarch would have at least resulted in jail time, as well as losing one's head. But during the late 18th and early 19th century it became an active sport that was much more tolerated.

 

who can forget the "to hannover" token brilliant satyr from the early victorian times......