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…
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: 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: 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…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 