Farthing (English coin)
The English farthing (derived from the Anglo-Saxon feorthing, a fourthling or fourth part)[1] was a coin of the Kingdom of England worth 1⁄4 of a penny, 1⁄960 of a pound sterling.
[3] The patent rolls from the reign of Henry III indicate that dies for producing silver halfpenny and farthing coins were issued to London moneyers on two occasions in 1222.
North speculates that the issue had a short duration;[4] as of 2001, only five examples of Henry III silver farthing coins were known to exist.
The coins had an average weight of 0.45 grammes and were made by further alloying sterling silver to debase the metal to 75% purity.
[citation needed] Contemporary records show that over four million farthings were produced during the reign of Edward I, but comparatively few have survived.
Only one very rare type of farthing was issued during the reign of King Henry VII (1485–1509), struck at the London mint.
It has the unique inscription HENRIC DI GRA REX around the king's bust to distinguish it from the coins of the earlier Henries.
A base silver farthing was issued by King Edward VI (1547–1553) with the inscription E D G ROSA SINE SPI around the portcullis on the obverse.
Lady Harington either sold or gave the privilege of minting farthings to Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox.
The farthing patent passed to his widow, Frances Stewart, Duchess of Lennox, and Sir Francis Crane.
During this time there were vast numbers of forged farthings in circulation and the situation became unacceptable as the poor felt conned and unfairly treated by the authorities.
This made the rose farthing an early example of a bimetallic coin and also almost impossible to counterfeit, and the production of forgeries soon ended.
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, witnessed by the large number of farthing tokens in circulation in the 1660s.
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.
For the reign of king James II, the copper-plugged tin farthings continued to be produced, with examples dated in all years between 1684 and 1687.
Following the death of Queen Mary in 1694, the production of coins continued under the same contract as before, with farthings of King William III being produced for all years between 1695 and 1700.
However it soon became apparent that the manufacturers were economising on expenses – cheap labour was being used, including foreigners some of whom could not spell the king's name which they were engraving on the dies.
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.
