The Short Cross coinage was introduced by Henry II in 1180 as a direct response to chronic coin clipping — the cross on the reverse was deliberately extended to the coin's edge so that any trimming would be immediately visible. The reform replaced the previous Teli/Awbridge type and standardized production across a network of provincial mints operating under licensed moneyers, each striking his name into the die.
Class 1a represents the earliest dies of the new type, struck before the design conventions fully settled. The same obverse inscription — reading HENRICVS REX — would persist unchanged through the reigns of Richard I, John, and into Henry III, meaning these earliest pieces are among the only Short Cross pennies actually attributable to Henry II himself.
The Short Cross coinage was introduced by Henry II in 1180 as a direct response to chronic coin clipping — the cross on the reverse was deliberately extended to the coin's edge so that any trimming would be immediately visible. The reform replaced the previous Teli/Awbridge type and standardized production across a network of provincial mints operating under licensed moneyers, each striking his name into the die.
Class 1a represents the earliest dies of the new type, struck before the design conventions fully settled. The same obverse inscription — reading HENRICVS REX — would persist unchanged through the reigns of Richard I, John, and into Henry III, meaning these earliest pieces are among the only Short Cross pennies actually attributable to Henry II himself.