History of the British penny (1714–1901)
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The penny of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901, the period in which the House of Hanover reigned, saw the transformation of the penny from a little-used small silver coin to the bronze piece recognisable to modern-day Britons. All bear the portrait of the monarch on the obverse; copper and bronze pennies have a depiction of Britannia, the female personification of Britain, on the reverse.
During most of the 18th century, the penny was a small silver coin rarely seen in circulation, and that was principally struck to be used for
By the late 1850s, the state of the copper coinage was deemed unsatisfactory, with quantities of worn oversized pieces, some dating from Boulton's day, still circulating. They were replaced by lighter bronze coins beginning in 1860; the "Bun penny", named for the hairstyle of Queen Victoria on it, was issued from then until 1894. The final years of Victoria's reign saw the "Veiled head" or "Old head" pennies, which were coined from 1895 until her death in 1901.
Silver penny (18th century)
At the start of King George I's reign in 1714, the English penny had been struck from silver for about a thousand years. The Hanoverian dynasty in Britain began during the time that Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Mint.[1] Newton had in 1702 considered the issuance of a copper penny, but no action was taken.[2] Silver at this time came to the Royal Mint only as the by-product of mining for other substances, and from chance deposits and windfalls—the scandal-plagued South Sea Company in 1723 was obliged to send a large quantity of silver bullion to the Mint's premises in the Tower of London. Nevertheless, so little was sent overall that MP John Conduitt, Newton's successor as Master, wrote in 1730 that since December 1701, "no silver has been imported to the Mint but what was forced thither".[1] Only small quantities of silver pennies were struck in the early years of George's reign; it and the silver twopence were unpopular in any case because of their small size.[3]
The change in dynasty did not affect the form of the silver penny—a 12 mm diameter coin weighing 0.5 gram. George's pennies had the inscription GEORGIVS DEI GRA continuing onto the other side with MAG BR FR ET HIB REX
The major purpose for the silver penny in the 18th century was as
Into the reign of King
Copper penny (1797–1860)
Soho issues (1797–1807)
With little silver coined in the second half of the 18th century, the burden of small change fell on the copper coinage, of which the highest denomination before 1797 was the halfpenny. Many official halfpennies were melted down clandestinely and lightweight counterfeits were made with the copper. In 1787, the Mint found that at most eight percent of "halfpennies" in circulation were genuine. A withdrawal of the existing copper coinage was deemed impractical due to transport difficulties.[8] The Government would not accept copper coinage for taxes, and the small merchants who accumulated large stocks of real and dubious copper coin sought relief. Areas of the country not near the capital were sometimes short of coppers, since new issues could only be purchased at the Mint's office at the Tower of London, in packets of 5 or 10 shillings. The small change shortage made it difficult, by the late 1780s, for employers to pay workers.[9]
The gap was filled, beginning in 1787, by private minters and companies, who issued copper halfpenny and penny tokens. Although not money in a legal sense, they served that purpose, and rapidly spread across the country.[10] Many of the manufacturers of these tokens were found in Birmingham, where industrialist Matthew Boulton struck large numbers of tokens and also constructed the Soho Mint, the first to be powered by steam. He aggressively lobbied for a contract to strike official copper coins.[11][12] In 1797, the government gave Boulton a contract to strike 480 tonnes of copper pennies and 20 tonnes of copper twopences. The first official British coins of those denominations to be made of copper, they were also the first official British coins to be struck by steam rather than by muscle power.[13]
The large size of the coins, combined with the thick rim where the inscription was incuse (i.e. punched into the metal rather than raised from it), led to the coins being nicknamed "cartwheels". The design was by Boulton's employee
Boulton was given a further contract in 1799, but only halfpennies and farthings were struck then. In 1805, Boulton gained another contract. By then, the price of copper had risen; in 1797, a pound of copper had coined 16 pence of coins, and in 1799 that amount of metal had made 18 pence-worth, but it took 24 of the 1806 pennies to weigh a pound.[17] The pennies were issued dated 1806 or 1807; they weigh 18.9 grams (2⁄3 ounces) and measure 34 millimetres (one-and-a-third inches) in diameter. These were more conventionally designed, also by Küchler, with a right-facing bust of the King and the same inscription as on the obverse of 1797 pennies. The reverse shows the seated Britannia facing left, with olive branch and trident and the inscription BRITANNIA. There is one unique penny coin known which is dated 1808, but this is thought to have been a proof. A total of 150 tonnes of copper were used to make the 1806 and 1807 pennies.[18]
Regal issues (1825–1860)
Finding its premises at the Tower of London too cramped and unsuited to the new technology, the Mint moved to a new building on
The obverse of George IV's pennies shows a left-facing laureated head engraved by William Wyon. This was the second portrait of George IV, and was adopted after the King expressed a dislike for the one engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci, which was never used on the penny. The penny is inscribed GEORGIUS IV DEI GRATIA[g] and the date, while the reverse shows a right-facing seated Britannia with a shield and trident, inscribed BRITANNIAR REX FID DEF.[h] The penny at this time weighed 18.8 grams and had a diameter of 34 millimetres, the same as Boulton's 1806–1807 pennies.[18]
The pennies of King
The pennies of Queen Victoria (1837–1901) form one of the most intricate denominations of British coinage, both before and after the transition from copper to bronze pennies in 1860. A number of specialist books have been published on the many varieties of Victorian pennies. The final years of the copper penny, from 1839 to 1860, saw a portrait of the Queen by William Wyon, usually dubbed the "Young Head". It had a reverse largely unchanged from King William's but for changing an X to a G, thus REX became REG, short for Regina (queen), denoting the fact that the monarch was now a woman. Thus, the legend on Victorian copper pennies was VICTORIA DEI GRATIA/BRITANNIAR REG FID DEF.[j] Copper pennies were issued for all years between 1839 and 1860 except 1840, 1842, 1850, and 1852.[25] The Heaton Mint, of Birmingham, had been founded with equipment from the wound-up Soho Mint. Beginning in the early 1850s, it supplied large quantities of blanks for pennies to the Royal Mint, and at times was called upon to strike pennies, though its mint mark H would not appear on pennies until 1874.[26][27] These contracts were because of the needs of Ireland (where counterfeits and tokens were common) and the colonies; the large quantities struck between 1797 and 1807 by Boulton ensured there were no shortages in England, Scotland and Wales.[28]
Bronze penny (from 1860)
By 1857, both the Royal Mint and the public were dissatisfied by the state of the copper coinage. Much of it was worn or defaced by advertisements, and 14 percent of the pennies in commerce were Boulton's 1797 cartwheels. The fact that pennies of different specifications circulated side by side precluded the weighing of quantities of copper coin to ascertain the value.[29][30] In addition to the pennies struck since 1806, there were Boulton's 1797 coppers and also, to a different standard, coppers struck for Ireland, which had been legal tender since 1826.[31] Each sort of penny was deemed too heavy for daily use. The copper coins were so heavy that Charles Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby had Mr Mantalini contemplate suicide by drowning himself in the Thames, his pockets filled with halfpennies.[29][30]
Thomas Graham, the Master of the Mint, in 1859 persuaded William Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the state of the copper currency demanded a lighter, more durable replacement. Bronze was selected as harder and less subject to oxidation. It was a material with which the Mint had experience, having recently struck bronze coins for the Canadian colonies,[32] and it had been used in France since 1852.[33] Gladstone told the House of Commons that were an old and a new penny placed side by side, no one unacquainted with them would dream they represented the same value.[31] Parliament passed legislation in 1860 that allowed the penny to be struck from an alloy of metals.[30] The act required that Britannia appear on the coin, as the design was felt to symbolise Britain as ruler of the waves, and to omit her would be seen as abandoning that role.[34] The Mint in 1860 awarded a contract for 1,720 tonnes of bronze pennies, halfpennies and farthings to James Watt & Co of Birmingham, a contract that would not be completed until 1863. Heaton's was also called upon to supply dies and coins, especially as Watt's prepared to execute its huge contract.[35]
Although there were calls for a public competition, William Wyon's son,
The obverse of the new penny read VICTORIA D G BRITT REG F D.[k] The Mint had intended to render it with the abbreviation BRIT, and some after the coins' release argued it should have done, but Gladstone had intervened to invoke the rule that the last consonant of a Latin abbreviation should be doubled to indicate the plural.[42] The coin is dubbed the "Bun Head penny" or "Bun penny" for the Queen's hairstyle.[43] The reverse depicts Britannia, wearing flowing robes, a breastplate and helmet, and grasping a trident. Her right hand grips a shield, on which is seen the combined crosses of the Union Jack. A ship sails out to sea on her right, and a lighthouse, supposedly the old Eddystone Lighthouse, is seen behind her on her left.[44] The denomination, ONE PENNY, appears for the first time on the base-metal piece.[45]
There are many varieties of the Bun penny, as several non-identical dies were prepared (especially in 1860) the design was tweaked a number of times over its 35 years, and the dies were sometimes used in different combinations.[46] The 2017 edition of Spink & Son's Coins of England & the United Kingdom chronicles 13 obverses, 14 reverses and a large number of die combinations. Differences include the number of leaves on Victoria's wreath and whether the border is beaded or toothed.[47] An "H" below the date on 1874, 1875, 1876, 1881 and 1882 pennies indicates that the coin was produced at Heaton's in Birmingham.[48] When production at the Royal Mint was stopped for a complete reconstruction in 1882, Heaton's, pursuant to contract, produced 50 tonnes of pennies, halfpennies and farthings.[49] Pennies of the Bun type were issued in all years between 1860 and 1894.[50]
Mintages
Total mintage by date and mint mark. "H" is for Heaton Mint, Birmingham.[55]
King George IV 1820–1830
Laureate Bust
- 1825 ~ 1,075,200
- 1826 ~ 5,913,000
- 1827 ~ 1,451,520
King William IV 1830–1837
Laureate Bust
- 1831 ~ 806,400
- 1834 ~ 322,560
- 1837 ~ 174,720
Queen Victoria 1837–1901
Copper:
Young Bust (W.W. on truncation)
- 1839 ~ Only in proof
- 1841 ~ 913,920
- 1843 ~ 483,830
- 1844 ~ 215,040
- 1845 ~ 322,560
- 1846 ~ 483,840
- 1847 ~ 430,080
- 1848 ~ 161,280
- 1849 ~ 268,800
- 1851 ~ 432,224
- 1853 ~ 1,021,440
- 1854 ~ 6,720,000
- 1855 ~ 5,273,866
- 1856 ~ 1,212,288
- 1857 ~ 752,640
Young Bust
- 1858 ~ 1,559,040
- 1859 ~ 1,075,200
- 1860 ~ 32,256
Bronze:
Laureate and Draped Bust – 'L.C.Wyon' (Beaded border)
- 1860 ~ 5,053,440
Laureate and Draped Bust – 'L.C.Wyon' (Toothed border)
- 1860 ~ Unknown
- 1861 ~ 36,449,280
Laureate and Draped Bust (Toothed border)
- 1861 ~ Unknown
- 1862 ~ 50,534,400
- 1863 ~ 28,062,700
- 1864 ~ 3,440,640
- 1865 ~ 8,601,600
- 1866 ~ 9,999,360
- 1867 ~ 5,483,520
- 1868 ~ 1,182,720
- 1869 ~ 2,580,480
- 1870 ~ 5,695,022
- 1871 ~ 1,290,318
- 1872 ~ 8,494,572
- 1873 ~ 8,494,200
- 1874 ~ 5,621,865
- 1874H ~ 6,666,240
- 1875 ~ 10,691,040
- 1875H ~ 752,640
- 1876H ~ 11,074,560
- 1877 ~ 9,624,747
- 1878 ~ 2,764,470
- 1879 ~ 7,666,476
- 1880 ~ 3,000,831
- 1881 ~ 2,302,362
- 1881H ~ 3,763,200
- 1882H ~ 7,526,400
- 1883 ~ 6,327,438
- 1884 ~ 11,702,802
- 1885 ~ 7,145,862
- 1886 ~ 6,087,759
- 1887 ~ 5,315,085
- 1888 ~ 5,125,020
- 1889 ~ 12,559,737
- 1890 ~ 15,330,840
- 1891 ~ 17,885,961
- 1892 ~ 10,501,671
- 1893 ~ 8,161,737
- 1894 ~ 3,883,452
Veiled Bust
- 1895 ~ 5,395,830
- 1896 ~ 24,147,156
- 1897 ~ 20,752,620
- 1898 ~ 14,296,836
- 1899 ~ 26,441,069
- 1900 ~ 31,778,109
- 1901 ~ 22,205,568
See also
Notes
- ^ Georgius Dei Gratia/Magnae Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex, or George by the Grace of God/King of Great Britain, France and Ireland. The British throne's claim to France was at this point purely historic.
- ^ Georgius II Dei Gratia/Magnae Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex, or George II by the Grace of God/King of Great Britain, France and Ireland
- ^ George III by the Grace of God ...
- ^ ... Magnae Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex, or King of Great Britain, France and Ireland
- ^ Britanniarum Rex Fidei Defensor, or ... King of the British Territories, Defender of the Faith
- ^ Georgius III Dei Gratia Rex, or George III, by the Grace of God King
- ^ George IV by the Grace of God ...
- ^ ... Britanniar Rex Fidei Defensor, or King of the British Territories, Defender of the Faith
- ^ William IV by the Grace of God ...
- ^ Victoria Dei Gratia/Britanniar Regina Fidei Defensor, or Victoria, by the Grace of God/Queen of the British Territories, Defender of the Faith
- ^ Victoria Dei Gratia Britanniarum Regina Fidei Defensor, or Victoria by the Grace of God Queen of the Britains, Defender of the Faith
- ^ Victoria Dei Gratia Britanniarum Regina Fidei Defensor Indiae Imperatrix, or Victoria, by the Grace of God Queen of the Britains, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India
Citations
- ^ a b Craig, pp. 211–214.
- ^ a b Lobel, p. 583.
- ^ Craig, p. 219.
- ^ Lobel, pp. 579–580.
- ^ Robinson, pp. 113–121.
- ^ Lobel, pp. 580–581.
- ^ Lobel, p. 581.
- ^ Craig, pp. 251–253.
- ^ Selgin, pp. 22–25.
- ^ Selgin, pp. 41–45.
- ^ Doty, pp. 27–30.
- ^ Selgin, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Selgin, pp. 162–163.
- ^ a b Selgin, pp. 163–164.
- ^ Clay, p. 53.
- ^ Selgin, pp. 163–166, 178, 189.
- ^ Seaby, p. 149.
- ^ a b Lobel, pp. 583–584.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, pp. 455–459.
- ^ Selgin, p. 266.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, p. 488.
- ^ Peck, p. 394.
- ^ a b Lobel, p. 584.
- ^ Crellin, Andrew. "The 1827 Penny From Great Britain - Unique in the Australian Colonial Series". Sterling & Currency. Archived from the original on 2017-08-06. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
- ^ Lobel, pp. 584–586.
- ^ Lobel, pp. 585–587.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, p. 503.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, pp. 508–509.
- ^ a b Dyer & Gaspar, p. 509.
- ^ a b c Linecar, p. 108.
- ^ a b Dyer, p. 61.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, pp. 509–510.
- ^ Josset, p. 132.
- ^ Linecar, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, p. 510.
- ^ a b c Dyer & Gaspar, pp. 510–511.
- ^ Josset, p. 133.
- ^ Peck, p. 418.
- ^ Linecar, p. 109.
- ^ Craig, p. 325.
- ^ Dyer, p. 63.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, p. 511.
- ^ Freeman, p. 21.
- ^ Peck, p. 419.
- ^ Lobel, pp. 583–586.
- ^ Peck, pp. 416–418.
- ^ Spink, pp. 484–489.
- ^ Spink, p. 489.
- ^ Dyer & Gaspar, p. 525.
- ^ Spink, pp. 488–489.
- ^ Seaby, pp. 157–160.
- ^ Peck, pp. 446–447.
- ^ Spink, p. 491.
- ^ Skellern, p. 36.
- ^ Lobel, pp. 586–587, 681.
References
- Clay, Richard (2009). "How Matthew Boulton Helped Make Birmingham 'the Art Capital of the World'". In Clay, Richard; Tungate, Sue (eds.). Matthew Boulton and the Art of Making Money. Studley, Warwickshire: Brewin Books Ltd. pp. 39–55. ISBN 978-1-85858-450-8.
- Craig, John (2010) [1953]. The Mint (paperback ed.). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-17077-2.
- Doty, Richard (1998). The Soho Mint & the Industrialization of Money. London: National Museum of American History, ISBN 978-1-902040-03-5.
- Dyer, G.P. (1996). "Thomas Graham's copper survey of 1857" (PDF). British Numismatic Journal. 66: 60–66.
- Dyer, G.P.; Gaspar, P.P. (1992). "Reform, the New Technology and Tower Hill". In Challis, C.E. (ed.). A New History of the Royal Mint. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 398–606. ISBN 978-0-521-24026-0.
- Freeman, Michael J. (1985) [1970]. The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain (revised ed.). London: Barrie & Jenkins Ltd. ISBN 978-0-09-155240-4.
- Josset, Christopher Robert (1962). Money in Britain. London: Frederick Warne and Co Ltd. OCLC 923302099.
- Linecar, H.W.A. (1977). British Coin Designs and Designers. London: G. Bell & Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7135-1931-0.
- Lobel, Richard, ed. (1999) [1995]. Coincraft's Standard Catalogue English & UK Coins 1066 to Date (5th ed.). London: Standard Catalogue Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9526228-8-8.
- Peck, C. Wilson (1960). English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum 1558–1958. London: Trustees of the British Museum. OCLC 906173180.
- Robinson, Brian (1992). Silver Pennies & Linen Towels: The Story of the Royal Maundy. London: Spink & Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-0-907605-35-5.
- Seaby, Peter (1985). The Story of British Coinage. London: B. A. Seaby Ltd. ISBN 978-0-900652-74-5.
- Selgin, George (2011) [2008]. Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775–1821 (paperback ed.). Oakland, California: ISBN 978-1-59813-043-0.
- Skellern, Stephen (December 2013). "The Coinage of Edward VII, Part III". Coin News: 35–36.
- Spink & Son Ltd (2016). Coins of England and the United Kingdom, Pre-decimal Issues (52nd ed.). London: Spink & Son Ltd. ISBN 978-1-907427-98-5.
External links
- British Coins – information about British coins (from 1656 to 1952)
- Royal Mint History of British Coins
- Collection of copper & bronze pennies