Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Farthing - Charles II
| Issuer | England |
|---|---|
| Year | 1672-1679 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Milled |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The enthroned figure of Britannia seated in left profile, depicted in classical robes, holding a long spear upright in her left hand and an olive branch extended in her raised right hand. A large oval shield decorated with the Union flag rests against her left side. The legend BRITAN NIA· flanks the figure around the periphery, with the date appearing in the exergue below. A beaded inner border frames the composition. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Charles II's copper farthings were the first regal copper coinage struck for England by royal authority — previous small copper pieces had been issued under private licence, most notoriously the Duchess of Richmond's patent under James I. The 1672 issue ended decades of unofficial token coinage that had flooded local trade, a chaotic system the Crown had repeatedly failed to suppress.
The Tin Farthing series that followed in 1684 would prove deeply unpopular, leaving these copper pieces as the more trusted and widely circulated type throughout the reign.