1 Farthing - Edward III 1st coinage, London mint

Edward III's first coinage was essentially inherited policy — the weights and standards carried over directly from his father Edward II, and the farthing in particular saw almost no deliberate reform during these years. What drove change was not royal decision but metal scarcity: silver supplies to the London mint were chronically thin through the late 1320s and early 1330s, a condition partly attributable to the ongoing drain of English coin into continental markets. At 0.31 g, these pieces were already pushing the practical lower limit of hand-hammered silver coinage, and loss or misidentification in circulation was routine.