1 Penny - Edward I Sterling type, class 4b

Class 4b falls within the major recoinage Edward I launched after the Statute of Merchants in 1283, an attempt to regularize English silver currency and suppress the clipped and debased coins that had plagued commerce since Henry III's reign. The classification system itself — developed largely by L.A. Lawrence in the early twentieth century and refined by subsequent scholars — divides Edward's pennies into finely graded subtypes based on lettering forms, crown details, and face treatment, making die study on this series unusually rigorous compared to most medieval English issues.

Provincial mints at Durham and Canterbury struck alongside London during this class, and mint attribution on class 4b pieces frequently requires close reading of the reverse legend rather than any single diagnostic feature.