4 Pence - William IV Pattern

Pattern coinage under William IV was largely driven by the Royal Mint's ongoing effort to modernize British denominations following the Coinage Act of 1816. A gold 4 pence had no real commercial rationale — groats circulated in silver — making this piece almost certainly a presentation or trial striking produced for internal review or royal approval rather than any serious proposal for circulation. William IV died in June 1837, and whatever denominational experiments remained unresolved passed entirely to the Victorian coinage programme.