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 - Henry III Short Cross type, class 8a
| Issuer | English Monarchy |
|---|---|
| Year | 1216-1247 |
| 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 | 1 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| 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 | This quarter-circle farthing, struck as one quarter of a silver penny, displays on its segment the crowned facing effigy of King Henry III rendered in the crude but vigorous hammered style characteristic of early 13th-century English coinage. The king's crowned head occupies the upper arc of the fragment, with the simplified facial features and flat crown typical of the Short Cross series class 8a. Partial Latin legend in Lombardic lettering runs along the straight cut edges and curved rim, reading [Һ]ЄNRI[CVS RЄX], identifying the monarch. The field below the bust bears pellet or annulet ornaments consistent with the class 8a die style. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, as expected of a hand-struck piece cut from a larger hammered penny flan. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
Henry III's farthing coinage is among the most poorly documented of the medieval English series — the short cross design had already been in use since 1180 under Henry II, deliberately kept unchanged to prevent hoarding of new coin, a policy that makes precise reign attribution genuinely difficult. Class 8a represents one of the earliest attempts to produce a regular regal farthing in quantity, though cutting pennies into quarters remained the dominant practice throughout much of the period. Surviving examples are rare in any condition; the weight tolerance for these pieces was notoriously inconsistent at the provincial mints.