Victoria Copper Halfpenny Very Good

Bronze Antoninianus in Fine condition

Between 1180 and 1247 the Short Cross, and later the “Long Cross” pennies dominated everyday trading. Due to the lack of small change, the mint would cut these pennies into halves and quarters to be used as halfpennies and farthings. These cut coins were used during the reigns of Henry II, Richard “The Lionheart”, John “Lackland” and his son Henry III until Edward I’s new coinage of 1279. The Mints, Moneyers and even the King can be difficult to tell, but we’ll identify as much as possible. Here we have on offer a group of the cut-farthings from the short cross coinage (1180-1247).

Edward IV ascended the throne at age 18 and was King of England from 1461 to 1483, except for 7 months in 1470-71 when he temporarily lost the throne to Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses. You may know Edward IV was the grandfather of Henry VIII, after his eldest daughter, Elizabeth married Henry VII. However, you may not know that Edward IV is the 15th Great Grandfather to our current King Charles III! Edward IV struck coins at the Tower Mint in London, but he also gave rights to Archbishops to produce coins at mints right across the country – from Durham to Canterbury to Bristol and others in between. The coins we offer are Edward IV Pennies struck at Durham, struck under Bishop Lawrence Booth (1465-1470). Pennies of this period are notoriously difficult to find in decent grade, they were manufactured on small, irregular flans or from crude local dies.