STORY OF THE ENGLISH PENNY.

Lake County Press, Issue 1064, 14 May 1903, Page 6

STORY OF THE ENGLISH PENNY.

There is no earlier mention of English pennies than that of A.D., CB3, says a writer in the '• linglish Illustrated Magazine." They were coined by the individual kings of the Heptarchy, and afterwards by the sole rulers. On the obverse the monarch's head :iud naaie usually appear, while the reverse allows a ctosb, and records the town where the coin was minted,and the name very often of the moneyer. Every important town is iceorded upon one penny or another, and local mints, though diminishing in numbers. < onlinued to issue coins dowu to the time of Anne, when the one at the Tower was alone authorised to do so. The early pennies of Victoria were coppers, and a good story is told of an old woman in the North of Scothind who continued after the introduction of the lighter bronze coinage in 1860 to weigh t iie sweets she sold against tho pennies of the children whs bought them. One cut: well imagine the strenuous endeavouis made by the youngsters to get hold of the older and heavier coins. To tell tho story of the " Britannia," which is such an important feature of our penny, wo must go back to the time when the copper coinage was introduced. .J;tines 1. forbade the use of tokens, and tried lu replace them by farthings. Charles I. issued similar oneß and Uromwell went so far as tho making of trial pieces. It was left, however, tor Charbs 11. to produce halfpence and farthings as we now know them, and they bore on the reverse the tiguro of '• Britannia." The general idea is obviously taken from one of a man so named upon a Roman coin, but the actual representation is said to be a portrait of the lovely Frances Smart. The farthing is very similar to the halfpenny in design, though it Bhows the kiily with one bare leg. The sceptre held by the Koman Britannia has become an olive branch and 3 spear has been added to the shield, which shows two of the crosses that biter went to form the Union Jack. We find that Wood's half-penny, coined for Ireland by the man whose name it bears, shows the figure leaning upon a haip instead of st Hhield. The coins were smaller than the ordinary coins of George 1., being also less than the contract allowed, and drew foith the celebrated Drapier Letters fiom Dean Swift. In Boulton and Watts' coins, a ship ap[i".irs, and well-maiked waves, below the shield, the word Soho is seen, signifying that the coin was made in Birmingham, though, of course, issued by tho Mint. The spear, it noticed, is bete converted into the more familiar trident,and tho olive-branch is more detailed, becoming even more so on the corresponding halfpenny, which is not furnished with a broad rim. When we examine the eoppera of tho next king, we find that BritaniiKt has donned a helmet, and faces the right instead of the left, while the waves and r<h!|) have disappeared, In the farthing the hand h«lding the olive branch clutches the shit-id, and in the halfpenny the branch has ;:<inr, and tho rose, thistle, and shamrock Hike the place of the date, which appears on the obverse side. Tli is style continued in use until the bronze coinage. of Victoria appeared. With the latin the ship and the waves come hack, and hiought Eddystono Lighthouse with them. The. date returned also to its old place, and tie lose, thistle and shamrock went to adorn Ihe i!i apery on tho Queen's dress. Lastly, in IW.IJ, the ship and lighthouse and what is more to be regretted the waves woro again lel'i out when our present style of penny was liir-l issued. The Irish harp used to replace Britannia on ihti liish coins, the thistle on Scotch; the " three legs," which am tho crest of the I-!.! of Man, appeared 011 Manx coins. This, it hiis been pointed out, is probably the icmain- of tho " svastike, ' the oldest design hitherto discovered, from which also the ' In \ pattern " is derived.