I have a hoard of EF and AU Maundy Threepences dating from Charles II right through to 1868 Victoria, I`m keeping some and selling the others off on eBay. Your thoughts and opinions on this Queen Anne piece. I don`t know if its 1706 or 1708 with a bit missing or a 6 over 8 or an 8 over 6. What you say ?
Looks like an "8", but from a broken die davey. Just out of curiousity, what does the word Maundy refer to? I don't collect them, but I like this one very much. Bruce
Bruce, Maundy Money was specially struck for the reigning King or queen of the time to give out in little purses or presentation boxes to members of the public to celebrate the Monarchs birthday. The Maundy coins are usually a better strike than the normal Threepence.
Maundy coins are given out on Maundy Thursday or the day before Good Friday. The link to the age of the monarch is not the date but the practice for some of the time of the amount of money given out to selected recipients equaling the age of the monarch. There is dispute on why it is called Maundy with some linking it to the New Commission (mandatum) from Jesus given on that day to be good to the least of the people while some point out that the money was first given to beggars (maund) by the king on his way to church services on that day so the demand was not from Jesus but from the beggars. In the beginning the poor were given food but that led to gifts of money which led to coining of special money that could be sold to collectors for more than the equal number of regular coins. Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Maundy
I recall reading that, at one point, the monarchs actually washed the feet of the poor as part of the cerimony. I believe it was around 1908 (give or take) that the mintage of the coins became quite rare...the dates prior to that are much more common.
Thanks for the explanation everybody. I love the historical part of coin collecting, it makes it all more interesting to me. Bruce
I'm not sure when the king stopped washing feet but in 1699 William III skipped the ceremony and sent a high ranking minister to take care of it. This started a practice that continued for quite a while until 1932 when George V started attending the ceremony in person (but without foot washing, I believe). We should remember that a few pence was a decent amount of money when this started and the later special coins issued in numbers smaller than than the numismatic demand was a good deal for the poor recipients. I always wondered how many of these special coins were retained as keepsakes by the families that received them. I imaging most were sold quickly. Just an opinion: I have absolutely no use for non-circulating legal tender sold to collectors at above face value. I always considered Maundy coins a special case because the profit went to the poor rather than to the government. I wonder what would happen today if, for example, the US government would give every welfare recipient, senior on Social Security or discharged soldier a special quarter designed for the purpose and not available any way other than by getting one from the recipient. The cost to the government would be minor and could be deducted from the check due that person but the recipient might sell it for enough to make a difference. If a genuine, legal tender quarter were limited to a 100,000 copies and not made for regular circulation, how much would people pay to get one? Continue that theory and imagine a coin issued to Purple Heart recipients or any other limited number of people to whom the government owed thanks. Would collectors buy them for thousands over face or would the coins all end up in vending machines?
Davey, I would love to see your collection of these pieces. Can you put up an album ??? Dang Ole George V, did not wash feet... You would think he could at least give out a nice shoe shine.
if they did this, the number would be great enough as the coin wouldn't be that rare in the end. Currently there are about 38 million ppl (age 65+) receiving SSI. And that doesn't count the millions more on welfare or any discarged soliders.
Ripley If you go to my "About Me " page on eBay under the ID of daveydempsey , you will see a good selection of them. I`ve sold about 40-50 over the last 6 months.:smile
