Medieval Hammered Farthings

Henry VII - Hammered Farthings

Henry VII (1457-1509)

Following a coup that resulted in the death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, Henry VII ascended the English throne on 22 August 1485. Henry coronation was on the 30 October 1485, and three days later he issued his first indenture regarding England's coinage. Henry adopted various strategies to protect the circulating coinage: he issued new coins, targeted counterfeiting and clipping, and restricted the use of inferior Irish and continental coins. At the beginning of his reign, he issued a proclamation forbidding the export of gold or silver as money, bullion, or plate; in 1490 a statute made the unlicensed export of coin a felony. Henry VII's astute fiscal policies restored the Royal Treasury (which his successor Henry VIII then squandered).

Historical Context

Royal indentures of 1485, 1492, and 1505 authorised the regular production of silver farthings under Henry VII, with consistent standards of weight and fineness...
On 4 November 1485, he appointed Sir Giles Dawbeney and Bartholomew Reed 1 as masters and keepers of the London and Calais mints, authorised to produce 5 denominations of both gold and silver coins - including silver farthings. "The grote, 4d, of which 112d shall weigh 1lb Tower. The half grote, penny (or sterling), half penny and farthing in like proportions. There shall be 11oz 2 dwt of fine silver and 18dwt of allay in each pound Tower, which shall contain 37s. 6d in coined moneys by tale" 2
On 20 November 1492 a second indenture was issued, this time with the master workers Bartholomew Reed 3 and John Shaw 4 , to strike the same denominations identical in weight and fineness as in the 1485 indenture.
A third statute of 20 November 1505, with the master workers of the London mint, Robert Fenrother and William Reed and re-authorised the production of 5 silver denominations including farthings. Accounts from the Tower Mint on the amount of silver minted into coins runs on without a break to the end of the first five months of Henry VIII, without any change to portrait or title. 5 This suggests that any coins produced in the first five months of Henry VIII's reign would be indistinguishable from those of Henry VII.
The important criterion that distinguishes the farthing from the more common halfpenny is the inner circle on the obverse, which is 8-9mm across on the halfpenny, 6-7mm on farthings. The difference is usually obvious to the eye.

Coin Characteristics: Facing Bust Issue

  • Metal: Silver
  • Denomination: Farthing (¼ penny)
  • Mint(s): London
  • Obverse: Crowned bust, single arched crown, no mintmark
  • Reverse: Long cross fourchée and 3 pellets in each quarter
  • Coin diameter: 10mm
  • Inner circle diameter: 6mm
  • Weight: 0.16-0.20g

Coin Examples

Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue obverse Type 1 Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue reverse Type A
Henry VII - Facing Bust Issue

Year(s): 1485-1509
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.1a

Obverse: hEnRIC DI [GRA REX] 6 Legend translated: Henry by the Grace of God, King

Reverse: CIVITAS LOnDOn "Long Cross" pattée with three pellets in each quarter.

Reference(s): S.2250, North 1739, Withers 1/a

Scarcity: Extremely rare

Guide Price: £575 (Fine) £1500 (Very Fine)

Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue obverse Type 2 Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue reverse Type A
Henry VII - Facing Bust Issue

Year(s): 1485-1509
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.2a

Obverse: hEn[RIC DI] GRAxREXx Legend translated: Henry by the Grace of God, King

Reverse: CIVITAS LOnDOn "Long Cross" pattée with three pellets in each quarter.

Reference(s): S.2250, North 1739, Withers 2/a

Scarcity: Three known

Guide Price: £575 (Fine) £1500 (Very Fine)

Henry VII - Facing Bust Issue

Year(s): 1485-1509
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.3a

Obverse: hEnRI[C DI GRA RE]X A Legend translated: Henry by the Grace of God, King of England

Reverse: CIVITAS LOnDOn "Long Cross" pattée with three pellets in each quarter.

Reference(s): S.2250, North 1739, Withers 3/a

Scarcity: Extremely rare

Guide Price: £450 (Fine) £1750 (Very Fine)

Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue obverse Type 3 Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue reverse Type A
Henry VII - Facing Bust Issue

Year(s): 1485-1509
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.4a

Obverse: hEnR[IC DI GR]A' REX Legend translated: Henry by the Grace of God, King

Reverse: CIVITAS LOnDOn "Long Cross" pattée with three pellets in each quarter.

Reference(s): S.2250, North 1739, Withers unrecorded variety

Scarcity: Extremely rare

Guide Price: £450 (Fine) £1750 (Very Fine)

Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue obverse Type 1 Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue reverse Type B with x before CIVI
Henry VII - Facing Bust Issue

Year(s): 1485-1509
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.1b

Obverse: hE[nRIC DI GR]A REX Legend translated: Henry by the Grace of God, King

Reverse: xCIVITAS LOnDOn "Long Cross" pattée with three pellets in each quarter.

Reference(s): S.2250, North 1739, Withers unrecorded variety

Scarcity: One known

Guide Price: £450 (Fine) £1750 (Very Fine)

Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue obverse Type 1 Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue reverse Type C with x before LOn
Henry VII - Facing Bust Issue

Year(s): 1485-1509
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.1c

Obverse: [h]EnRIC [DI GRA REX] Legend translated: Henry by the Grace of God, King

Reverse: CIVITAS xLOnDOn "Long Cross" pattée with three pellets in each quarter.

Reference(s): S.2250, North 1739, Withers unrecorded variety

Scarcity: Two known

Guide Price: £450 (Fine) £1750 (Very Fine)

Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue obverse Type 5 Henry VII Farthing Facing Bust Issue reverse Type A
Henry VII - Facing Bust Issue

Year(s): 1485-1509
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.5a

Obverse: hEnRIC [DI] GRA xR Legend translated: Henry by the Grace of God, King

Reverse: CIVITAS LOnDOn "Long Cross" pattée with three pellets in each quarter.

Reference(s): S.2250, North 1739, Withers unrecorded variety

Scarcity: One known

Guide Price: £450 (Fine) £1750 (Very Fine)

Corpus of Coins

This corpus records all coins available for study or known from published sources, auction catalogues and FPLs. Within each section, obverse dies are designated by a type number and a sub-type number, and reverse dies by lower-case letters (e.g 1.2a). An asterisk (*) indicates that there is an illustration on this page of a representative example of that die combination. Recorded weights are given where available.

Abbreviations

  • Ash. — Ashmolean Museum
  • BM — British Museum
  • Fitz. — Fitzwilliam Museum
  • PC — Private Collections
  • wnr — weight not recorded
1.1a:
hEnRIC DI [GRA REX] / CIVITAS LOnDOn
1* AM; ex. L.A. Lawrence; ex. E.J. Winstanley; bt. en bloc in 1963 H. Schneider and then gifted to the Ashmolean; Potter. E.J. and Winstanley, H, 'The Coinage of Henry II', BNJ 31 (1962), p. 122, Pl. xi, no. 44; B. Withers, 'SCBI 23, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, III: Coins of Henry VII - Comments, Corrections and Addition', BNJ 74 (2004), p 186, Fig. 6; 0.125g
1.1b:
hE[nRIC DI GR]A REX / xCIVITAS LOnDOn
2* obv. PC; Detectorist find, c. April 2008, North Yorkshire; 0.17g/12h
3* rev. PC; Detectorist find, Kent; 0.15g
1.1c:
[h]EnRIC [DI GRA REX] / CIVITAS xLOnDOn
4* PC; Mark Rasmussen, FPL 24, Spring 2013, item 49; wnr
1.2a:
hEn[RIC DI] GRAxREXx / CIVITAS LOnDOn
5* BM; 1934,0520.1; ex. H.M. Morrieson, Sotheby, 20-24 November 1933, lot 248;
6 PC; ex. J. Sazama, Dix Noonan Webb, 26 September 2011, lot 1250; 0.19g/12h
1.3a:
hEnRI[C DI GRA REX]A / CIVITAS LOnDOn
7 PC; ref. Withers, P. and Withers, B. The Galata Guide to Small Change. Llanfyllin, Powys: Galata (2013) p. 125, Type 1.1a; wnr
1.4a:
hEnR[IC DI GR]A' REX / CIVITAS LOnDOn
8* PC; ex. R. Shuttlewood, Spink, 15 March 2001, lot 72; Colin Cooke Collection, May 2006, lot 838; Withers, P. and Withers, B. The Galata Guide to Small Change. Llanfyllin, Powys: Galata (3013) p. 125, incorrectly attributed as Type 1.2a; 0.20g
1.5a:
hEnRIC [DI] GR]AxREX / CIVITAS LOnDOn
9* PC; ex. Lord Stewartby, Spink, 28 March, 2017, 1552; Stewartby, Lord. English Coins 1180-1551. London: Spink (2009), p. 451, Pl. 30, no. 531; Baldwin, November 1999; 0.18g


Footnotes

  1. Potter, W.J.W. and Winstanley, E.J. "The Coinage of Henry VII (cont)" The British Numismatic Journal 32 (1963): 154 link(opens in a new tab) ↩
  2. Symonds, H. "The Documentary Evidence for the English Royal Coinages of Henry VII and Henry VIII." The British Numismatic Journal 10 (1913): 127 link(opens in a new tab) ↩
  3. "A City Sheriff in 1498 and Mayor of London 1503." ref. Carlyon-Britton, R. "The Last Coinage of Henry VII." The British Numismatic Journal 18 (1925): 2 link(opens in a new tab) ↩
  4. "A goldsmith, a Sheriff in 1497 and Mayor of London in 1502. He was the son of John Shaw of Rochford in Essex, and was knighted in the field by Henry VII. It seems probable that he was related to Sir Edmund Shaw, Mayor of London in 1483, who was also a member of the Goldsmith's Company, and of Dr. Ralph Shaw (brother of Sir Edmund), the eminent preacher, who expounded the title to the throne of the Duke of Gloucester (afterwards Richard III) at St Paul's Cross, on June 22nd, 1483." ref. Carlyon-Britton, R. "The Last Coinage of Henry VII." The British Numismatic Journal 18 (1925): 5 link(opens in a new tab) ↩
  5. Symonds, H. "The Documentary Evidence for the English Royal Coinages of Henry VII and Henry VIII." The British Numismatic Journal 10 (1913): 127-71 link(opens in a new tab) ↩
  6. While the photograph of this coin is very hard to read, the obverse legend on this coin was confirmed by Withers, B. "SCBI 23, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, III: Coins of Henry VII - Comments, Corrections and Addition." The British Numismatic Journal 74 (2004): 186 link(opens in a new tab) ↩

Research & Resources

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