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Inverted anchor cross. A cross with slightly widened ends, with two anchor flukes coming out of the top and curving left and right, also with slightly widened ends.







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Seated figure of Britannia left, with trident and shield in left hand, olive branch in raised right hand, shield bearing Union flag resting on left, sea behind with ship on left, mint name below shield, legend above and date below on raised rim. Script: Latin Lettering: BRITANNIA SOHO 1797 Engraver: Conrad Heinrich Küchler Read more on Wikipedia

1797 UK Penny

The first base metal British penny

Seated figure of Britannia left, with trident and shield in left hand, olive branch in raised right hand, shield bearing Union flag resting on left, sea behind with ship on left, mint name below shield, legend above and date below on raised rim.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
BRITANNIA
SOHO
1797

Engraver: Conrad Heinrich Küchler Read more on Wikipedia

Base metal coins

The first base metal coins in Britain were farthings and half pennies struck from 1717 under George I. Previously these were struck from silver, with the face value being roughly equal to the value of the metal content of the coin. All higher denominations were still struck from silver (or gold). A shortage of silver during the 1700s and the price of the metal increasing meant that it was less and less economical for the treasury to mint new silver coins. Any silver coins which were minted, were quickly snapped up out of circulation and melted down for the higher value of the metal itself.

Conder Tokens

The shortage of coins but availability of copper led to business owners producing their own copper coins. Unlike coins, tokens did not require the value of the metal to match the face value of the coin, and so they could be struck in large quantities at little cost. Provided the tokens did not resemble official coins, they were also completely legal to produce. These coins became commonly used and are known as “Conder tokens” (often spelt as “Condor”). They are named after James Conder who produced the definitive early resource on these in 1797.

Businessman Matthew Boulton, one of the founding fathers of the industrial revolution championed steam technology. In 1788 Boulton installed a set of steam-driven coin presses at his Soho Manufactory in Handsworth, Birmingham. Each was made to his patented specifications and could strike up to 84 coins per minute. The Soho mint also struck coins for India, Sierra Leone and Russia, as well as blanks for the US mint in Philadelphia.

Boulton repeatedly made offers to the Royal Mint to produce coins for them, but was turned down each time.

Cartwheel penny

CoinsAndHistoryFoundation provides a good description of the coins and much of the inspiration for this section. Boulton was finally successful in convincing treasury to award him a contract to strike pennies and two pennies. Treasury stipulated that these coins must weigh one and two ounces respectively, to match the cost of production and denominational value and restore confidence in the currency.

These coins were by far the largest, and heaviest to ever circulate in Britain. The penny weighed one ounce, 28.3g, and measuring 36mm diameter. The two penny weight two ounces, 56.7g with a diameter of 41mm.

The coins had a broad raised rim with text on each side to further deter counterfeiters. This earned them the nickname “cartwheels”. The effort was successful in largely thwarting counterfeiters, however the public came to find such large coins impractical to carry around. The widespread use of lighter copper tokens convinced the treasury that the public would now accept coins with a higher face value than metal content. When the next pennies were produced in 1806, Boulton was permitted to make them smaller and lighter.

Seated figure of Britannia left, with trident and shield in left hand, olive branch in raised right hand, shield bearing Union flag resting on left, sea behind with ship on left, mint name below shield, legend above and date below on raised rim. Script: Latin Lettering: BRITANNIA SOHO 1797 Engraver: Conrad Heinrich Küchler Read more on Wikipedia

Next to 1967 penny:
Seated figure of Britannia right, with trident in left hand and shield bearing the Union flag in right, sea behind with lighthouse to left, denomination above and date in exergue.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
ONE PENNY
1964

Engraver: Charles Walter Coombes

Here is the 1797 Cartwheel penny next to one of the last circulating pennies from 1967. The later penny weighs 9.45g, which is 1/3 the weight of the 1797 coin. The diameter is 30.8mm and thickness 1.6mm, compared to 36mm diameter and 3mm thickness.

Reverse

The reverse of this 1797 Penny is typical of British copper or bronze pennies right up until 1970. It features an image of Britannia, seated, with her sheild by her side. The coin does modify the personification of Britania from earlier issues. The new image shows her sitting on an island surrounded by sea with a ship sailing, conveying Britain’s supremacy of the seas. The spear she had previously carried was replaced by a trident, similar to Neptune’s.

Obverse

Laureate and draped bust of King George III right, legend around on raised rim. Script: Latin Lettering: GEORGIUS III·D:G·REX. K Unabridged legend: Georgius III Dei Gratia Rex Translation: George the Third by the Grace of God King Engraver: Conrad Heinrich Küchler Read more on Wikipedia

The obverse of the coin features George III facing right.

Proclamation pennies

Being such an influential and important coin at the turn of the century, the impact was felt beyond Britain. The 1797 “Cartwheel” penny, is one of ten coins specifically declared legal tender in Australia by the proclamation of the governor of New South Wales, Gidley King, in 1800. The first legal act covering coinage in Australia. In order to retain the scarce supply of coins within the colony, Proclamation coins circulated at a value above their face value – Two pence in this case. Governor King had 132,000 cartwheel pennies imported, almost 4 tons of coins, with a face value of £550.

On 20 November, 1800, the day after the proclamation was posted on the outer wall of the Government Stores at Sydney and Parramatta, the Royal Admiral arrived at Sydney Cove. On board were boxes of English copper halfpennies and farthings dated 1799. There is circumstansial evidence of these reaching the marketplace and trading at twice their nominal value. I’m not sure if any of the actual 56g two pence coins made it to Australia, although there were far fewer of these than the one penny coins (722,100 vs 8.6 million). If they did, if could be inferred they may have traded for 4 pence.

The Proclamation

With regard to the cartwheel pennies, the proclamation read:

“These are therefore to give notice, that a Copper Coin, weighing One English ounce, and stamped with the profile of His Majesty on the one side, and of Britannia on the other, will be Issued as Above, at the rate of Two pence for each Copper; and that the same shall be paid and pass Current in the Colony, and is to Circulate at the Aforesaid Rate of Two pence.

And that no one may plead Ignorance of the Rate or Legality of this or any other of the Coins circulating in this Colony, of which it does not appear that any regular Proclamation has ever collectively been issued, I have judged it most expedient herewith to publish the following Table of all the specie legally circulating in this Colony, with the Rates Affixed to each, at which they shall be considered, and be a legal tender in all payments or transactions in this Colony.

This Supply of Copper having been sent to relieve the Inconvenience of persons requiring to make small payments, no persons are to Collect the same for the purpose of making large payments, nor shall it be deemed a legal tender to offer the same in payment for any sum exceeding five pounds.

And it is hereby declared that the Exportation or Importation, except from His Majesty’s Treasury, of any sum in Copper exceeding five pounds shall be punished by a Fine of treble the value, and forfeiture of the sum exported or imported.”

Proclamation coins

As well as the Cartwheel penny, the other coins listed in the proclamation were:

  • British Guinea (Gold coin) issued 1660 – 1820
  • Portugal’s gold Johanna, issued 1722-1732. 26.68g of .917 gold. Equivalent to 12,800 Reis in Portugal, King gave the coin a value of £4. Portugal’s gold half Johanna, had a value of £4.
  • Batavian Republic (now Netherlands) gold Ducat. Issued by a number of Dutch provinces. 3.5g of .986 gold, given a value of 9 shillings and sixpence.
  • Indian Gold Mohur. Struck to varying standards and sizes by different Moghul Emperors from the 16th – 18th centuries, the most common at the time of the proclamation were struck by the East India Company, weighing 12.36 grams of .996 gold. Given a value of £1/17/6.
  • Southern Indian Gold Pagoda. Struck by the East India Company from 1740 – 1807. Approximately 3.43g of gold.
  • Spanish Silver Dollar (8 Reales). These were given a value of 5 Shillings.
  • Indian Rupee (Silver). Struck throughout India, weighing around 11.69g of .909 purity or higher. Governor King valued these at 2 Shillings and Sixpence.
  • Dutch Guilder. A widely circulating silver coin around the world at the time. Given a value of 2 Shillings.
  • An English Shilling. A silver coin issued since 1485. Given the value of 1 Shilling and 1 Penny.

Collecting

With most of the other coins on the proclamation list being either silver or gold, the cartwheel penny is also a popular starting point for a collection of Australian Proclamation coins.

Seated figure of Britannia left, with trident and shield in left hand, olive branch in raised right hand, shield bearing Union flag resting on left, sea behind with ship on left, mint name below shield, legend above and date below on raised rim. Script: Latin Lettering: BRITANNIA SOHO 1797 Engraver: Conrad Heinrich Küchler Read more on Wikipedia

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