Introduction: The price of gold rose from the 1430s onward, so gold coins were worth more in Europe than in England, which resulted in a gold shortage in England as coins were exported for profit. This is known as an ‘arbitrage market’ and is also an early example of Gresham’s Law – it caused a…
Introduction: During the reign of Henry VI many parliamentary regulations were made in Ireland, relating to money; but most of these acts, as well as those of the three former reigns, are either lost or destroyed. 1422 By an English statute of his second year, it was enacted, that the ounce of silver should be…
Following the death in 1376 of his father, Edward of Woodstock (the Black Prince), Richard became heir to his grandfather, King Edward III of England, whom he succeeded in 1377 at the age of ten. His reign of twenty-two years saw a number of domestic crises, from the Peasants’ Revolt (1381) to later conflicts with…
Background The bronze Coinage of Queen Victoria was introduced in the year 1860, to replace the copper coinage first inaugurated by Charles II in 1672. This new alloy for coinage had several advantages over the old copper coins:- it was lighter, cheaper and had greater hardness / durability But bronze is not as easy to…
Background: Victoria, at that time, was the longest serving British monarch in history, so her son Edward was an old man by the time he succeeded her. Not a lot happened in terms of numismatic innovation during his short reign but it is, perhaps, worth mentioning that James Joyce had a few things to say…
Background: After the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, UK currency remained the formal currency of the Irish Free State until 1928. After this date, UK coins continued to circulate alongside the Irish coins right up until Decimalisation (1971) and well into the 1970s. Irish Free State farthings were minted in London by…
Background: Edward VIII advised the Royal Mint that he wanted a modern coinage to reflect a modern Britain but, after his abdication, it was his younger brother (George VI) who inherited his new designs – the first of which was the farthing. A European Wren replaced Britannia on the reverse. This bird motif was similar…
Background: By the 1950s, the farthing had pretty much lost its spending power and there were calls for its withdrawal. An average of 20 million farthings per year were produced during the reign of George VI but inflation made these coins virtually obsolete during Elizabeth’s early reign. The Royal Mint stopped producing them in 1956…
Background By the end of George V’s reign the threepence had become unpopular in England because of its small size. Although it was still popular in Scotland, the government of the day decided to introduce a more substantial thru’penny bit which would have a more convenient weight/value ratio than the silver coinage. The silver threepence…
Introduction: The ‘three-halfpence’ was the smallest silver coin ever struck by the Royal Mint for circulation. It was worth 11⁄2d (or 1⁄160 of a pound) and was produced for circulation in the British colonies, specifically for use in British Guiana, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Mauritius, Sierra Leone and the West Indies. They were a rough…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 