1 Farthing - James I Harington issue, type 1a

The Harington farthing was the first officially sanctioned copper coinage in English history, authorized under a patent granted to John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, in 1613. The Crown had long resisted base-metal coinage on principle, and the patent was a compromise — private issue under royal license rather than a Royal Mint product, with Harington paying a fee to the king. He died the same year the patent was granted, and the operation passed to his son.

Type 1a is distinguished from later variants by its relatively crude die work, a product of the informal manufacturing arrangements outside the Mint's control.