England penny 1272 - 1307

This penny was hand struck during the reign of King Edward I who ruled from 1272 until 1307. It is silver, and at that time the penny was the only denomination in general circulation.

It is known as a "long cross" penny due to the cross on the reverse extending to the edges of the coin. Earlier pennies had a "short cross" which only extended to the inner circle of pellets. Unscrupulous people had a habit of shaving a tiny amount of silver from the edge of a coin before spending it, over a period of time accumulating a stash of silver shavings. Some coins bacame quite underweight, and the long cross was introduced in an effort to stop such practices.

Great Britain Halfcrown 1817

The Royal mint finally recieved it's long overdue funding as was able to something about the appalling state of British coinage. Thanks to James Watt, new steam powered coin presses were installed at the mint in London, and in 1816 a great recoinage of silver and gold took place (copper coins had been struck at a private facility using steam presses since 1797), with the old coins being withdrawn and replaced with new specie. These were the first British coins to be struck using a "collar" or third die which shaped the edge of the coins thus ensuring uniformly round coins. The portraits of King George the Third were engraved by the Italian Benedetto Pistrucci, and the portrait used on the halfcrown came in for some serious criticism, possibly not by the King himself who was insane by this time. It bacame known as the "bull head", and was only used in 1816 and 1817 before a head only bust was substituted in 1817.

England emergency issue dollar on Mexico Eight Reales

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries England was suffering a severe shortage of coinage, with the royal mint unable to procure enough silver and gold to strike coins. The Bank of England purchased a large number of Latin American "pieces of eight" and counterstamped them with a small portrait of King George the Third. These were issued between 1797 and 1804, when the Bank began restriking the whole face of the spanish "dollars". These countermarked coins gave rise to a limerick at the time "The Bank in order to make it's money pass, stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass."