Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 20505358, member: 101855&quot;]I believe that the first pieces that have dates were issued during Queen Mary&#039;s reign (1554 - 1558). Only a few of those coins have dates. There were also some dated coins for Elizabeth I.</p><p><br /></p><p>Prior to then, you the king on the coin will usually give you a time period. Sometimes when the weights of the coins were changed (e.g. &quot;heavy&quot; or &quot;light&quot; coinage) that will give you another clue. Also there is information about when certain mints were in operation and what denominations they made.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the more confusing periods was during the time of Henry II, and his sons, Richard I and John. All of the pennies (and that was really the only denomination) had Henry&#039;s name on them. The way you tell the difference was by the style of the crown and some other markers.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is believed that this is a Henry II penny because the &quot;E&quot; and the &quot;C&quot; are bulky. Note that one old collector put an &quot;H II&quot; counterstamp on this coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1540883[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>With Richard I pennies, you look for stubble on his chin. This king is better known as &quot;Richard the Lionheart.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1540884[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>John (bad old Prince John, later King John) had a different beard style.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1540885[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This is over simplified, but you can see some of what is involved.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why did Richard and John continue to issue coins in their father&#039;s name? One dealer told me it was to keep up the confidence in the coinage. Henry II had greatly improved the quality of the British pennies, and they were popular. Perhaps Richard and John did not want to risk changing that.</p><p><br /></p><p>Richard the Lionheart is a big hero in legendary British history, but to me he&#039;s overrated with respect to the British. Richard was far more French than he was English. He spent only about 10 months in England, the least of any British monarch. He was far more interested in his French holdings and the Third Crusade than England which he viewed as a boring backwater of a country.</p><p><br /></p><p>John has long had a bad reputation in British history. He was mean spirited and cruel, and wasn&#039;t much of a warlord to boot. At one period he had over half money in the country in his treasury from his high taxes. Despite the fact that he hired many mercenaries, the French were on British soil when he died and were close to taking over the country.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in