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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 8543424, member: 101855"]Part 3 Copper Coinage         By the late 1780s, it was estimated that at more than 75% of the coppers that were in circulation were counterfeits. In 1797 the British Government sanctioned Soho Mint to produce one and two pence copper pieces, which contained enough copper to melt for close to their face value. Both coins, which were large, thick and heavy, were nicknamed, “Cartwheels.” These were the first government sanctioned coins that were struck on stream presses. In 1799 and again in 1806 and 1807, the Soho Mint produced copper coins (pennies, halfpennies and farthings), in normal sizes for the British Government. [ATTACH=full]1509211[/ATTACH] 1797 "Cartwheel" 2 Pence [ATTACH=full]1509212[/ATTACH] 1799 Half Penny [ATTACH=full]1509213[/ATTACH] 1806 Penny The Rise and Fall of Napoleon         Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 to parents who were very minor nobility. He supported the French Revolution in 1789 while serving in the French Army, and rose rapidly through the ranks as his military accomplishments continued. He engineered a bloodless coup in November 1799 which made him the First Consul of the Republic. In 1804, he became the Emperor of France.         Napoleon pursued his quest to conquer all of Europe. In 1805 his cause suffered a significant defeat when the British Fleet, under Lord Horatio Nelson, defeated the French and Spanish Navies off Cape Trafalgar near Spain. That defeat precluded a land invasion of the British Isles, but Napoleon’s navy was blockaded the British ports, which did serious damage to the economy. In the same year, Napoleon scored a historic victory at the Battle of Austerlitz.         In 1806 and 1807 Napoleon solidified his hold over eastern Europe with victories over the Austrians, Prussians and Russians. In 1808, he expanded his territory by taking control of the Iberian Peninsula and installing his brother, Joseph, as king. The Spanish and Portuguese, with the aid of the British, revolted and fought a guerrilla war which lasted for six years. Ultimately Napoleon’s marshals were defeated.         In 1813, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia. Russian resistance plus the brutal Russian winter forced the French emperor to retreat. Heartened by this development, Austria and Prussia joined Russia. Their combined forces defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. Once the coalition had defeated Napoleon, they crossed the French border and forced him to abdicate in April 1814.         The coalition forced Napoleon into exile to the Island of Elba which off the western coast of Italy, but the French leader was not finished. He escaped from Elba in February 1815 and returned to Paris where he regained control of the French Government. The Allies responded by forming another coalition. They defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June of 1815. This time the coalition exiled Napoleon to the remote Island of Helena in the south Atlantic where he remained until he died in 1821. Bank of England Silver Tokens         As the land war in Europe continued, the Bank of England, a privately owned corporation that conducted much of the government’s financial affairs, began to issue silver tokens in 1811. These pieces looked like coins, but they were tokens because they were not official British Government issues. They featured a portrait of King George III on the obverse and the words “Bank Token,” the value and the date on the reverse. The Soho Mint struck these pieces. They were issued in two denominations, 1 shilling and 6 pence and three shillings. The bank issued these pieces from 1811 to 1816. [ATTACH=full]1509214[/ATTACH] 1813 British Bank Token, 1 shilling, 6 pence [ATTACH=full]1509215[/ATTACH] 1814 British Bank Token, 3 Shillings[/QUOTE]

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