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 - William and Mary small busts
| Issuer | England |
|---|---|
| Year | 1689 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound sterling (1158-1970) |
| 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 | 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | BRITAN NIA 1689 |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
William and Mary's early farthings were struck in tin with a copper plug at the centre — a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure introduced under Charles II in 1684, when the government sought to make unofficial copying of small copper coinage unprofitable by using a more complex and expensive process. The small-bust variety of 1689 represents the first year of the new joint reign, produced just months after William landed at Brixham and James II fled to France.
Tin coinage proved deeply unpractical. The metal oxidizes aggressively in circulation, and surviving examples with any surface detail are genuinely uncommon. The series was abandoned in favour of plain copper by 1694.