Elizabeth II, 1st Bronze Decimal Coins 1971 BU

King George VI, was of course the father of our current Monarch Queen Elizabeth II. He kept the country on an even keel during World War Two and took over when his brother Edward VIII abdicated. Of the three bronze coins issued, Penny, Halfpenny and Farthing, without doubt the hardest to find is the Halfpenny. A friend of ours took several years to put together these complete date collections of George VI halfpennies 1937-1952. The Coronation year was 1937 and he passed in 1952. There are a total of 16 coins in the date collection, one for each year of his reign. All coins are in selected circulated condition and it would be very difficult to make up these sets today. Coronation, World War Two and every year that he was on the throne. You get all 16 coins in selected circulated condition for just £14.95 that is less than £1 a coin, but supplies are limited.

George VI Farthings from the Coronation year 1937 to the last George VI Farthing made in 1952. 16 coins in total.

In 1968 when the first decimal coins were issued they carried the denomination, ‘New Pence’ to differentiate them from the pre-decimal Pence or Penny coins. In 1982 the Mint felt that we had enough time to differentiate between the two Pence so they changed the denomination to Pence from New Pence. On most of the coins that was fine but there was one problem in the making. The Mint had decided that the lowly Half Pence was too low and value and would shortly stop making them. In fact in 1983 they did stop making them and in 1984 they only made the coins in the Mint and Proof Sets. So the 1982 Half Pence is the last coin that was actually struck for circulation. The Half Pence coin was only struck for three years and two of those coins are difficult to get and can be expensive. We bought an original bag of the 1982 Half Pence coins in Brilliant Uncirculated condition, it is scarcer than most people realise and priced rather reasonably. Get them while you can…