Coins of England and Great Britain
by Tony Clayton
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Coins of England and Great Britainby Tony Clayton |
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The Penny Halfpenny <<-- :
-->> Three Pence
The Post-1971 Decimal Two Pence
Values of Two Pence Coins
Pictures of Two Pence Coins on www.ukcoinpics.co.uk
First issued by Edward III in 1351, and still produced today for the Maundy Ceremony.
The design, with a facing portrait of the King on the obverse and a long cross on the reverse, remained very much the same until 1502. An image of a Henry VI half-groat is available, courtesy of Spink.
The first major change took place during the reign of Henry VII, when a profile bust of the king was shown in much greater detail than the stylised portraits of earlier issues.
During the reign of Charles I Briot produced a pattern that in silver saw some circulation. A rare copper version is illustrated.
Charles II continued the use of interlocking C's, while James II had a crown over the roman numeral II, which is also a play on his initial - the J and I were effectively the same character at that time.
Ever since 1689 the reverse has shown a crowned numeral 2.
The last issues for general circulation took place during the reign of George III, although some may have been struck for colonial use. However, the denomination is still struck as part of the Maundy coinage.
The present Maundy coin weighs 0.9 g and is 13 mm diameter.
In 1797, during the reign of George III, the Cartwheel Twopence piece was struck by Matthew Boulton at the Soho Mint.
This is by far the largest base metal coin issued in the UK, weighing two ounces (56.7 g) and measuring 41 mm diameter and 5 mm thick. On the obverse is a portrait of George III facing right, with the inscription GEORGIUS III D G REX, while the reverse shows Britannia seated facing left, holding an olive branch and trident, with BRITANNIA above and 1797 below. I am grateful to Jeff for the images.
The weight means that the coin is very susceptable to edge knocks.
The coin was found to be too heavy for regular use, and no more copper or bronze twopence coins were struck until decimalisation in 1971.
There are many late strikes made by Matthew Boulton in a variety of metals, and further ones made by W.J.Taylor when he bought the dies in 1848. I believe that the chief way these later issues can be distinguished is by marks resulting from die corrosion. He also produced a pattern dated 1805 with a different design.
See my Main Coins Index page for acknowledgements
Main Index
Previous page - Three Halfpence
Next page - Three Pence
Values Index
Values of silver Twopence from 1668 to 1795
Values of the copper Twopence of 1797
Values of Maundy Sets.
Pictures of Two Pence
Pictures Index
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