2016-08-27 Sat

The silver penny became the most widely circulated English coin from the late 8th Century to the 13th century. England saw a shortage of coinage in late the 1700s which gave rise to the circulation of counterfeit coins and merchant tokens.

Matthew Boulton received official permission to strike copper coins at his private mint in Soho, Birmingham in 1797. Steam technology was introduced for the first time and perfectly round coins of the same weight were produced at a very quick rate.

Experts believe that these coins were the first truly modern coins. The penny and 2-penny coins were also known as “cartwheels” as they are much larger than other coins of the time. Public’s faith in minor coinage was restored with coins that had their intrinsic value of metal and 36 millimeters in diameter, 28.35 grams 1 penny coins were minted. The 2-penny coin weighed 56.7 grams and measures 41 millimeters in diameter. The Penny coin was more widely used but the 2 penny coins were too heavy for the public’s liking. These large copper penny and 2-penny coins are dated 1797, but production continued for several years.