FYI I am in the U.S. I have been collecting English Pennies for a few years now and I have a gap in my collection for the monarchs Wm&Mary, Wm III, Anne, Geo I, and Geo II, although I do have a 1754 Geo II (SCBC 3715A). I tend to haunt the auction houses (including some in Great Britain) but occasionally check fixed price lists. I do not recall ever seeing one of these pennies from 1689-1731 come up for auction. The prices for these in the Standard Catalogue are not that high to indicate any kind of rarity. In fact the lower grades are cheap. Does anybody have a clue as to why there don't seem to be any? tnx.
I assume you mean Halfpennies and not Pennies. You should be able to find low-grade examples on eBay easily. If you are looking for higher grade examples, your best bet is to look at larger auction houses. Most of my higher-quality coins have come from large auction houses overseas.
Dear Coinsandmetals - You have thrown me off a bit. Why do you assume I am talking about halfpennies? I mean pennies.
Welcome to CT! Well I misread your post and assumed you were talking about copper. Sorry for the confusion. eBay may still be of some assistance.
My guess would be that this may partially be due to the fact that the British didn't make any for those monarchs, except the Maundy commorative silver . I agree with zenlib tho that you may be able to find some on EBay.
The question of what is and isn't Maundy money during the above reigns is moot. The indenture of 8th Oct. 1670 ordered them for general currency, which is supported by survival rates in circulated condition. There are far more pieces in the market than would be required purely for the ceremony. Additionally there are years such as 1705 when two Maundy ceremonies were performed because the date can be either side of the then year end. 1706 had no ceremony, but a lot of 'Maundy' coins were struck. Clearly these must be regarded as general currency. Brian Robinson in his book "The Royal Maundy" (1977) concluded that at least up to 1714, the coins were for general circulation. What is likely is that circulating money was distributed without requiring coins dated that year to be used. For the remainder of the 18th century, full sets of denominations were struck in only 20-25% of the years involved, but based on the amount of silver coined, it may be that the denominations were minted specifically for this use as the average value per year is about right starting from the middle of the century. According to Robinson, the earliest reference to the 1d to 4d coins as Maundy money was 1731. As usual, the waters are muddy.
Yes - to be clear, there are no copper pennies in the GB coinage before 1797. All pennies before that were silver right back into Saxon times. Confusingly many collectors refer to the milled silver pennies from Charles II onward as "Maundy" although this is not necessarily the case. However it is generally not possible to distinguish between coins struck for Maundy use from those for circulation unless they are in stunning condition. It may be that you struggle to find examples at auction is because you are discounting Maundy - you will have to include these in your hunt. On Ebay almost all milled silver pennies pre-1800 will be described as Maundy.
robp and PaddyB - Thank you very much! You have cleared the fog considerably. I had put further research on my "round tuit" list but ... well, you know. Now I have something to chew on.
