Gold penny

The gold penny was a medieval English coin with a value of twenty pence (i.e. 1⁄12 pound sterling), minted in 1257 during the reign of Henry III.

The reverse contained a long cross extending to the edge, with a flower in each quarter, and the moneyer's name in the legend, thus WILLEM ON LVND (William of London).

Thomas Carte, in his A general history of England, says that the citizens of London made a representation against them on 24 November 1257, and that "the King was so willing to oblige them, that he published a proclamation, declaring that nobody was obliged to take it [the gold penny], and whoever did, might bring it to his exchange, and receive there the value at which it had been made current, one halfpenny only being deducted from each, most probably for the expense of coinages".

Gold coins would not be minted again in England until the reign of King Edward III about seventy years later.

As all the coins were recalled and melted down, the gold penny completely disappeared from view, and all knowledge of its prior existence was forgotten.