1 Farthing - James I Harington issue, type 2

England had no official copper coinage in 1613 when James I granted John Harington of Exton a royal patent to produce farthings privately — the Crown refusing to mint such low denominations itself on the grounds that copper coinage was beneath royal dignity. Harington died before production began in earnest, and the patent passed to Lord Lennox, whose consortium issued the Type 2 pieces through 1616. These were never legal tender in a strict sense; merchants were under no obligation to accept them, yet the desperate shortage of small change meant they circulated widely regardless.