1 Penny - George III

The 1805 penny was struck for circulation in Ireland, not Britain — a distinction that matters. George III's copper coinage for Ireland had been long neglected, and the Soho Mint under Matthew Boulton had already revolutionized English copper production by the late 1790s. These Irish pennies were contracted to Soho as well, using the same steam-powered presses that had produced the famous Cartwheel coinage of 1797.

The gold-plated examples catalogued under the 'a' variants were almost certainly produced as presentation or pattern pieces rather than for circulation. Soho was known for producing dressed-up strikes for collectors and dignitaries alongside standard production runs.