Base-metal Halfpennies
In the early years of the reign of King Charles II (1660–1685), there was a clear need for low-denomination coins to fund day-to-day purchases. The silver 1d and 2d coins issued in the first few years of the reign were being hoarded, and tradesmen in many parts of the country had taken to issuing private tokens in base metal; while this was an offence, in practice penalties were minimal and the government appreciated the need for such coinage which was not available legally. A problem with the production of low-value coins is that if the face value is less than the cost of production (including the metal) then the exercise is done at a loss and the coins may be clipped or melted down for their metal content; if the face value is higher, counterfeit coins begin to appear. The Mint was not ready to produce copper coins until 1672; by that time Maundy-type small silver (1d–4d) coins were being produced and were circulating widely, so no copper pennies were produced, although a Royal Proclamation in August 1672 decreed that halfpennies and farthings would be issued, and that they would have a face value equal to the value of the metal less the cost of producing them. The new coins were legal tender up to a total value of six pence, and depicted Britannia (modelled by the Duchess of Richmond) on the reverse. It was soon discovered that the Mint was incapable of producing the copper blanks needed for the new coins, and these eventually were imported from Sweden; to facilitate the process, the Customs Duty on the import of the metal was waived. Further delays ensued, caused not least by transportation problems, and the first halfpennies did not appear in circulation until after Christmas (the year did not end until 24 March in those days, so there were still three months before the start of 1673).
The ideal of striking coins with a value equal to their production costs was not long maintained, and the coins were given a face value slightly higher than their metal content, so inevitably counterfeits soon began to appear.
It is interesting to note that Charles II's head faces left on the copper coinage, and right on the silver coinage.
The copper halfpenny weighed between 10.0 and 12.0 grams and had a diameter of 28–31 millimetres. The inscription on the obverse, around the king's head, reads – Charles, son of Charles – while the reverse shows around the left facing seated Britannia, holding a spray and trident, with the date beneath Britannia. Coins were produced dated 1672, 1673, and 1675.
The halfpennies of King James II (1685–1688) were made of tin with a small square plug of copper in the centre. The corrosion properties of tin mean that very few coins survive in a good state of preservation, not helped by the electrochemical reaction between copper and tin. The objects of using tin were to produce coins at a profit while at the same time producing a coin which would be difficult to counterfeit, and at the same time to assist the ailing tin-mining industry. The coins weighed between 10.5 and 11.6 grams, with a diameter of 28–30 millimetres. The obverse showed the right-facing effigy of the king with the inscription – James the Second – while the reverse shows the same Britannia as before. Unusually, the date appears not on the reverse but on the edge of the coin, which has the inscription – an ancillary coinage. The coins were produced in 1685, 1686, and 1687.
In the joint reign of William III and Mary II (1688–1694), the production of bimetallic tin/copper halfpennies continued in 1689, 1690, 1691 and 1692. However the tin coinage was becoming increasingly unpopular because the public did not feel that there was any intrinsic value in the coins and also the corrosion problem had become apparent; even worse, lead counterfeits had started to appear. Just before the queen's death from smallpox in 1694 a copper halfpenny, weighing 9.1–11.7 grams with 28–31 millimetres diameter was reintroduced. The contract for the new coins stipulated that the copper used should be English and the blanks struck at the Mint. It is noticeable that Charles II's Swedish copper halfpennies have toned to a dark red colour, while the William and Mary halfpennies tone to black, presumably because of different impurities in the copper.
The obverse inscription read, while the reverse reads (with the date beneath Britannia in 1694). The 1689–1692 coins have the edge inscription with the date.
For the widowed king William III, the production of halfpennies continued under the contract granted during the previous reign. However it soon became apparent that the manufacturers were in breach of contract – to save costs, not only were some of the blanks being cast rather than struck, but some of the coins were themselves being cast in one operation. There were other ways in which the manufacturers were economising on expenses – cheap labour was being used, including foreigners some of whom could not spell or punctuate the words they were engraving on the dies. Towards the end of the reign both the workmanship and the design and production of the dies for the copper coinage had sunk to a nadir, which is curious as simultaneously the mint was producing the highest quality work in the five and two guinea pieces which were being produced. By 1698 there was a glut of copper coinage and an Act was passed to stop the coining for one year; this seems to have had little effect and the proliferation continued. There were further Parliamentary attempts to control the glut of coinage later.
The William III halfpenny appears with various distinct types of engraving of the king's head, Britannia, and the inscriptions, with the quality getting worse as the reign wore on. The coins were copper, weighing 8.9 to 11.5 grams, with a diameter of 28–29 millimetres. The king's effigy on the obverse faced right, with the inscription – William the Third. Britannia appears on the reverse with the inscription and the date normally in the exergue beneath Britannia. Coins were produced each year between 1695 and 1701.
Due to the glut of copper coinage, there was no need to produce any copper halfpennies during the reign of Queen Anne (1701–1714).
Read more about this topic: Halfpenny (British Pre-decimal Coin)