1 Penny - Henry III Long Cross type, class 3a2

The Long Cross penny was Henry III's solution to a chronic and damaging problem: clippers were shaving silver from coin edges and passing the lightened pieces at face value. By extending the cross arms to the coin's rim, the design made clipping immediately visible. Class 3a2 falls within the recoinage of 1247–1248, when the Crown recalled the Short Cross issues that had circulated — increasingly debased by clipping — for over sixty years.

North 986 distinguishes class 3a2 by the form of the lettering on specific named moneyers and mints, a detail that has driven much of the sub-classification work in this series since Philip Grierson's foundational studies.