![]() The king’s portrait was once again cuirassed, as was that of his son and successor, George II (1727-60). As had become traditional, the profile bust of George I faced in the opposite direction of his predecessor, a practice which was not violated until the brief reign of the fractious Edward VIII (1936). The reign of George I (1714-27), first of the Hanoverian monarchs, witnessed a fairly generous coinage of copper halfpennies (1717-24) and farthings (1717, 1719-24). Numismatists, of course, were able to debunk these stories, as the 1714 farthings are only moderately scarce. Perhaps due to the unique status of this issue within her reign, the Queen Anne farthings were at one time the objects of fantastic tales regarding their great rarity. Farthings bearing the draped bust of the queen and a seated figure of Britannia included the date 1714, which appeared in the familiar position within an exergue beneath Britannia. Only during the final year of her reign did the coinage of Queen Anne (1702-14) feature a copper issue. So too did copper rule the minor coinage of Britain, halfpennies being issued 1695-1701 and farthings from 1695 through 1700. Following the death of Queen Mary, William III ruled alone from 1694 to 1702. Again, the cuirassed busts of William and Mary were paired with the Britannia reverse. Tin, unplugged, was favored for the small coins, though copper halfpennies and farthings were finally struck in 1694 only. The use of both curaissed and draped busts, in combination with the Britannia reverse, carried into the following joint reign of William and Mary (1688-94). The designs were quite similar to those of Charles II, though the curaissed bust was used alternately with a draped bust of the king. Instead, the curious practice of producing halfpenny and farthing pieces of tin but containing central plugs of copper was revived, after having been tried briefly during the reign of his predecessor. The reign of James II (1685-88) saw no copper coinage. ![]() At this time, and for more than a century to follow, the penny was still a tiny silver coin. Additional halfpennies were struck and dated 16, while farthings were again issued for 1673. The first systematic use of this metal by the Crown to produce small change occurred when copper halfpennies and farthings dated 1672 were issued bearing a cuirassed (leather-clad) bust of Charles II on their obverse and a seated figure of Britannia on their reverse. Classic Commemoratives & Government SetsĬopper as a coinage metal was generally shunned by Britain until the reign of Charles II (1660-85) and had appeared only in the form of undated farthings (equal to one-fourth of a penny), these competing with various tradesmen’s tokens. ![]() Silver Coins: When They Ended and What They’re Worth Should I get my coin collection appraised?.
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