Background: Unlike the pennies of Elizabeth II, British trade & commerce demanded a constant production of halfpennies from 1953 forward. Production increased from approx. 9 million in 1953 to an average of c. 50 million per year by the 1960s. In preparation for decimalisation in 1971, 146 million halfpennies were minted in 1967. All of…
Background: By 1947, towards the end of George VI’s reign, silver British coinage was no more. Silver was just too valuable a commodity to waste on coinage and, with the break up of the British Empire now inevitable, there as no need to ‘pretend’ British sterling was the world’s foremost currency. Many other currencies were…
Introduction: By the time Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1953, the crown coin was redundant as it was too big and heavy for loose change – so none circulated. It had become a purely commemorative issue and was only issued periodically. The ‘St George & the Dragon’ reverse design was also dropped –…
Background: By the end of George V’s reign the threepence had become unpopular in England because of its small size but it remained popular in Scotland. It was consequently 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 continued to be…
Introduction: The GB & Ireland “Edward VII” pennies are an easy series to collect as there is only one major variety (the 1902 low tide) and that too is not exactly scarce. As with all of the earlier GB & Ireland bronzes, the highest grades command a significant premium and the coins in the lower…
Background: Nobody thinks about British George V bronze pennies without thinking about the famous 1933 penny rarity. It is, perhaps, the most well-known British penny and many schoolboy collectors started the hobby by checking their pocket change for a 1933. Since these pennies circulated in Ireland right up until 1971, many Irish collectors also hoped…
Background: Because of the large number of pennies already in circulation and the economic depression after WW2, there was no need to produce any more in 1950s Britain. That said, a new monarch in 1952 sparked off a huge demand for coronation coin sets and, in 1953, over 1.3 million Elizabeth II pennies were minted…
Background: George VI’s reign included the economically disastrous Word War II which culminated in his overseeing the dismantling of the British Empire to the point where it had to be transformed into a weaker / less cohesive British Commonwealth. The biggest loss was the independence and breakup of India into three nation states – India,…
Background: Although British trade & commerce were deemed not to need any more pennies in 1953, over 1.3 million of them were minted to satisfy the public demand for a souvenir of their new Queen, i.e. if it were not for the new sovereign, no bronze pennies would have been minted in 1953. In fact,…
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…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 