Salute to a Penny: Service Under Six Sovereigns

(From the June Numismatic Circular, 1954)

SIR, -On the day the Chancellor of the Exchequer presented his budget I happened to get among my change, probably on a bus, a well-worn penny with the minting date, 1861, plainly legible.

Somehow after most of a lifetime spent among French centimes and American cents, it impressed me even more than Mr. Butler’s account of the diligent effort of the pound to recover its former pride of place among world moneys.

My 1861 penny, seemed to me, stood bravely forth as probably the only survivor in circulation of the coins of its time in any country. It has served six sovereigns, playing a modest, but appreciable, part in the crowded history of the past 93 years, and has withstood unyieldingly the storms and tempests which have swept so many of its decimal system contemporaries into the discard.

It may be, I have thought, the size and weight of the British penny, as compared with the small and obviously valueless coins of other countries, that has kept it in respect. It is at least a point to be remembered by would-be currency reformers. Let us salute the penny while working and paying for the restoration of the pound. Does not the old saying tell us that if we look after the pennies the pounds will look after themselves? – PERCY J. PHILIP, care of Bush Hotel, Farnham.

SIR, -I join with Mr. Percy Phillip in his “Salute to a Penny” but he is mistaken in thinking that it could be “the only survivor in circulation of the coins of its time.” Not long ago I lived in London for two years and each evening I used to sort over the copper coins which had been given to me as change. It is of course impossible to get a complete set, since copper coins are not issued from the mint every year. I aimed at getting pennies but had to accept halfpennies and sometimes even farthings into my collection.

My oldest copper coin is a half-farthing of 1844, my next a penny of 1853. These are in so good a state that I cannot help thinking that they have not been in continuous circulation. After these two comes a worn penny of 1860 and a penny of 1861 and then both a penny and a halfpenny of 1863. After that there is nothing until 1872, but from then onwards the list is fairly well filled up. Between 1860 and 1950 there are 69 years represented and 22 unrepresented. It was an amusing and interesting little hobby and cost me nothing.-H. A. P. LITTLEDALE, 22 Wrafton Road, Braunton, North Devon.

SIR,-Let us hail the ha’penny as well as praise the penny; finding the farthing is less easy. For some time past I have habitually examined my change for elderly coins, though quite non-numismatically, and find that coppers of the 60’s are much more frequent than those of later date. Mine go back to 1860 (both ½ d. and 1d.); farthings only to 1875. One also comes across elderly silver coins, though I have only one Victorian 3d. What is most surprising is the really fine condition of some even of the earliest; in what drawer corners or furniture crevices did these lie?

How I wish that I had taken an interest in this when, as a boy in the ‘teens and twenties of this century, I would help my farmer farther to count the wages on a Friday afternoon; both copper and silver of George III and IV and of William IV were not at all infrequent, while double florins and crowns were commonplace. Presumably many of these returned to the bank via tradesman and so to the farm again.-F. CANNON ROGERS, Sion Court, Twickenham.

SIR,-In reply to Mr. Phillip’s letter concerning British coins, I have the good fortune to possess a British coin bearing Queen Victoria’s head. It is dated 1841, and this I believe to be the oldest penny to be still in currency.- KEVIN CROSSLEY-HOLLAND, Rahere, Overy Staithe, King’s Lynn.

SIR,- Your various correspondents, with diligence and good fortune, could acquire an unbroken sequence of pennies dated from 1860 to 1922. None was struck in 1923, 1924 and 1925, while in 1933 the Mint struck only a token quantity to enable specimens to be buried in the foundations of certain favored new buildings. There are no pennies dated 1941, 1942, or 1943, as minting had been suspended in 1940 to save copper for munitions. A small quantity was struck in each of these three years for colonial circulation but they were all dated 1940. There are no 1952 pennies.

I was surprised by Mr. Rogers’s statement that in the “teens and twenties” of this century double florin was minted only from 1887 until 1890. In all, 2,665,625 were issued but by 1909, 1,747,380 had been withdrawn. Few of the remaining 918,245 were in general circulation. Mr. Kevin Crossley-Holland’s penny of 1841 is certainly old but not in currency. Bronze coin replaced copper in 1860and all pre-1860 pennies were demonetized in 1869.-R. J. MARTIN, 19 Linden Gardens, W.2.

SIR,-It may be of interest to relate that after reading Mr. P. J. Phillip’s letter of April 17, in which he paid tribute to a well-worn coin, I received a George IV shilling dated 1826 in change given to me at Brighton. This coin, in the 129th year of its service, itself an emblem of tradition, had served under eight sovereigns.-C. H. WHEELER-SELWOOD, 48 Hangelton Road, Hove, Sussex (From “The Times”).