Citylife in Lichfield January 2022

A Flip of the Coin
By Phil Bridge
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Coinage as we know it was first invented in Lydia by the Lydians around 650BC,
now part of present day Turkey.
The first coins were mainly made of electrum found in riverbeds – a mixture
of gold and silver.
It was harvested using sheep or goat skins being dragged or set in the flowing
water, hence Jason and the Golden Fleece.
Some of the coins made were just crude lumps of this material until people
became skilled in making the striking die, so that images were then designed for
the coin.
Later, pure gold, silver, bronze and copper were used and text naming a ruler
or place came into play.
Thoughts why coins were needed were that it was easier going to markets with
a bag of coins than moving livestock or produce grown to barter for items.
The Romans minted huge amounts of coins primarily to pay soldiers and mints
were set up in any place they could access raw materials.
During Domitian’s rule, soldiers were paid three or four times a year in Silver
Denarii – equivalent to £2,000 to £3,000 in today’s money.
But the soldiers had to pay back up to two thirds of their income to pay for
food and equipment!
The temptation of owning money led to counterfeiters from early times.
Byzantine bronze coins were made with a tiny copper plug through the centre
of some coins to deter forgers, just like our Bank of England banknotes have
holograms in part of the design.
Throughout history there have been instances of traders from abroad returning
home with lots of silver coinage only to melt it down and mix the silver mixing
with low grade metal such as copper, then reminting – and sometimes doubling
the amount of coins to come back and trade again!
Doing this over and over for a few years had the effect of destabilizing the
economy, just like Adolf Hitler tried to do during the Second World War with the
Bernhard white banknotes.
This was the Nazi scheme to undermine the British economy with a huge
number of notes forged in concentration camps.
Initially they planned to air-drop the notes over Britain but switched to the
more subtle ruse of filtering them into the economy by using the forgeries to buy
goods in neutral countries – and pay their spies!
Going back to the Middle Ages, even people in charge of mints – ‘mintmasters’
– were guilty of underhand methods to make money for themselves by reducing
the amount of silver in the minting processes.
That led to grave consequences for the mintmasters… around six were called
together by King Henry as he returned from France, hearing that his coinage was
wearing and turning copper coloured because of the lack of silver in the coins.
The King decreed that all the men would forfeit certain things and most had
their right hand chopped off for the deceit.
Clipping and cutting silver coins was the practice of cutting part of the edge of
the fairly soft silver coin hoping it would not be noticed.
When the culprit had enough silver shards, they were melted down and sold to
a silversmith.
Clipping was of course a criminal offence as it undermined the currency with
the king’s legend sometimes missing because of coins being clipped too many
times.
So it was considered high treason and an offense punishable by death, generally
by hanging – although one woman was burnt to death.
Yet if a trade of, for example, one farthing was made with a silver penny, the
penny could be cut into four quarters – hence ‘fourths’ or ‘fourthings’ – or in half
for a halfpenny sale.
This accepted practice of cutting the penny continued until farthings were
introduced in the reign of Edward I in 1279.
Minting the farthing was abandoned during the reign of Edward VI and farthing
tokens of tin and lead were made by shopkeepers.
But this was considered a breach of royal prerogative by King James in 1613 so
copper farthings were minted for the first time in 1672 until 1937.
One of the best-loved coins is the gold sovereign first minted in Tudor times.
When King Henry VII was on the throne in 1485, the value was 20 shillings. It
was a hammered coin, as milled coins made by machine would not be made until
A 1983 2p with the words ‘New
Pence’ instead of ‘Two Pence’. Find one
of these and you could be up to
£1,000 richer!
Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth coinage in 1649.
The weight of the sovereign was 15.55 grammes compared to 7.98 grammes
for our current sovereign and still has a value of £1.
There was a change during the reign of James I as only a few sovereign and half
sovereigns were minted.
Charles I called his gold coins angels, unites, crowns and double crowns and in
1817 the modern sovereign was born in the reign of George III, when the gold
purity of 22ct was set and the weight of just short of 8 grammes.
The rarest gold sovereign was minted in 1920 when New South Wales
politician Jacob Garrard ordered half a dozen for children and parents for an
anniversary.
The cost of minting these sovereigns was 30 shillings, the cost of a sovereign
plus half as much again.
Garrard must have had some clout as dies were sent over from London for the
mint of the coins.
Around five are known to exist and one was sold in auction in 2012, making
$1.2 million.
If this inspires you, there are still key coins out there for anyone to find.
Some of the rarest 2p coins are a small number from 1983 accidentally minted
with the words ‘New Pence’ instead of ‘Two Pence’ when the reverse die was
mixed up.
Find one of these and you could be up to a £1,000 richer!
There are also copper-nickel 2p coins worth £20 to £50 and an undated 1998
20p, left without the year when again reverse and obverse dies were mixed up, is
worth around £40 to £50.
But any coin can be mis-struck and consequently worth massive amounts
compared to its face value. I once saw a mis-struck 5p sold for over £120 – to my
consternation as an under-bidder!
A 50p coin struck to commemorate the UK’s presidency of the council of
ministers and the European Single Market is one of the rarest 50p coins out there.
Not only is it the only coin with two dates, 1992-93, it has the lowest mintage
of any 50p with just 109,000 created.
The beloved Kew Gardens 50p, marking the gardens’ 250th anniversary in 2009,
has a mintage of 210,000.
But in my opinion, gold coins are still the thing to collect followed by silver.
Buying the best quality you can afford will almost always give you the best
chance to make a premium and get satisfaction from your collection.
So keep checking those pots, your purses and pockets!
Free valuation appointments with Phil Bridge at The Lichfield Auction Centre
can be booked by calling on 01543 251081 or emailing
office@richardwinterton.co.uk. Visit www.richardwinterton.co.uk.
The 2009 Kew Gardens 50p was loved by
the public so much that it became hard to
find and is now worth £100 to £350, yet one
could still be found in your change or in those
pots and tins! This example is a silver Piedfort
proof so commands the top estimate.
A gold proof £5 commemorating Prince
Philip’s 90th birthday. Given the highest
possible score when assessed in the USA,
this coin is worth upward of £4,000.
When this gold dinar was
hammered, the minter was
running short of gold but struck
this coin anyway, hence its misshape.
Valued at £200-£300.
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