After several years, I finally acquired a coin high on my want list. A Cartwheel Penny. I know this is pretty modern but some here, like Doug, tend to be fans of them. I traded a fairly nice Denarius for it but it was worth it. This is the 2pence. Still would like a 1pence later on. HANOVER. George III.1760-1820. CU Twopence Second issue. Cartwheel type. O:GEORGIUS III D G REX, Laureate, draped, and armored bust right. R: BRITANNIA, Britannia seated left on rocks, holding branch and trident; shield to right; in background, ship under sail right upon waves. Soho (Birmingham) mint, 1797. 41mm 54.73g 6h Peck 1077; SCBC 3776; KM 619.
Yes, I like these but not enough to spend the money that nice ones bring. Copper wears quickly and dents/chips occur easily. Did you know you can tell the difference between the two sizes by the configuration of leaves on the branch in Britannia's hand? Count the leaves on my two below and compare to your 2d to determine which of mine is a 1d and which a 2d. There is another difference. Can you see it?
In 2d coins there are 11 leaves while on 1d coin there are 10 leaves. The 1D has a taller skinny bust. The 2D has a very round head. Three crests on the bottom waves on the 2D compared to 2 on the 1D.
I always loved these coins. My old aunt (1911-2010) once gave me a two-pence on my birthday, and I sold it ten years later when I was poor. Always regretted it. These coins are not rare, but the qualities I like are expensive. However, maybe some day I will pounce upon another 2 d.
I actually don't mind some of the dents and few shallow pits. I have seen so many worse at much higher prices then what my trade price was.
Nice coins all ! I am also very fond of these. Here in Europe i regularly see them at coin fairs, but pristine specimen are also beyond my budget. Here one of mine, some nice details but also the common dents and bruises:
I have a cartwheel tuppence too. It's a magnificent fine style coin really. Mine has a few scratches but I don't really care about what mark out of 70 it deserves. It's a classic coin. Somebody should publish a book about the all-time classic coins.
We will be looking forward to your book. If you search, there is quite a bit online. http://www.living-in-the-past.com/cartwheels.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Boulton I have seen a lot of these that served as pocket pieces and which were engraved with initials or more suggesting they served a long time after they stopped being just a 2d coin.
Hi Doug, when you said 'can you spot the other difference?' I had to go looking and first thing I looked at was it. The bow at the back of the head. Very different on the two coins. thanks for the challenge!
(To tell the difference, go by weight - 1oz [28+ gm]=1d, 2oz [56+ gm]=2d) Interestingly, Australia didn't get it's own 'coinage' until 1910 for silver, (or 1911 for copper) coins. Australia used coins from other countries as 'legal; tender, but found that the coins were leaving the country with the sailors from the ships, so the Governor ascribed a 'higher value' to each of the coins, when used in Australia, and this stopped the 'drainage'. The Cartwheel 'Twopence' was worth 'Threepence' and the Cartwheel 'Penny' was worth 'Twopence'. I found this in 'Wikipedia'. For many years after the first Australian colony, New South Wales, was founded in 1788, it did not have its own currency and had to rely on the coins of other countries. During the early days of the colony, commodities such as wheat were sometimes used as a currency because of the shortage of coins. Spanish dollars were sometimes cut into "pieces of eight", quarters, and then into 2/3 and 1/3 segments, with the 2/3 segments (1/6 of original coin) being "shillings" and the 1/3 segments (1/12 of original coin) "sixpences" [1] In 1791 Governor Phillip of New South Wales fixed the value of the Spanish dollar to equal five shillings. Under the decree of 19 November 1800 by the governor Philip Gidley King, the following coins were legal tender for the exchange value of: Guinea = £1/1/- (One pound and one shilling) Gold Mohur = £1/17/6 (one pound, 17 shillings and sixpence). Spanish dollar = 5 shillings. Ducat = 9/6 (9 shillings 6 pence). Rupee = 2/6 (2 shillings and 6 pence). Pagoda = 8/- (8 shillings). Dutch Guilder = 2/- (2 shillings). English shilling = 1/1 (1 shilling and 1 penny). Copper coin of 1 oz = 2 pence.[2] The settlers did have some George III one-penny coins, which were referred to as "Cartwheel pennies". These were the first British coins to be officially exported to the Australian colonies, and so can be considered Australia's first official coins. They were dated 1797 and 1799, with Britannia on one side and King George III on the other. Here are my examples of the 1d and the 2d (Penny and Twopence).
Dude, you know what I meant, pence, cent, 2 pence, 2 cent, all of that basically means the same thing.
