Medieval Hammered Farthings

Richard III - Hammered Farthings

Richard III (1452-1485)

Richard became king on 26 June 1483, and after a brief and turbulant reign, he was defeated and died at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. Due to the shortness of his 25-month reign, all coins of Richard III are rare, the farthing extremely so.

Historical Context

An indenture dated 20 July 1483 appointed Robert Breakbury as Master Worker of the Money in the Tower, indicating that the coinage of Richard III began on or shortly after this date. Mint records further show that the production of silver coinage ceased on 21 August 1485, the day before Richard’s death at the Battle of Bosworth Field...
On 23 January 1484, the only Parliament of this brief reign was held. The statute enacted by that Parliament was principally concerned with strengthening Richard’s claim to the throne of England. Only a very small portion of the Statute addressed coinage, including a requirement that for the "ease of the common people" a fifth of all coins stuck should consist of half-groats (twopence), pennies, halfpence, and farthings. Also there was a provision intended to prevent the export of English coins by Italian merchants. 1

Coin Characteristics

  • Metal: Silver
  • Denomination: Farthing (¼ penny)
  • Mint(s): London
  • Obverse: Crowned bust, i.m. halved sun and rose
  • Reverse: Long cross fourchée and 3 pellets in each quarter
  • Coin diameter: 10mm
  • Inner circle diameter: 6mm
  • Weight: 0.16-0.20g

Coin Examples

Richard III Farthing Obverse Type 1 Richard III Farthing Reverse Type A
Richard III

Year(s): 1483-1485
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.1a

Obverse: RICAR DI GRA REX 2 Legend translated:Richard by the Grace of God, King

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

Reference(s): S.2171A, Withers 1/a

Scarcity: Extremely rare

Guide Price: £750 (Fine) £4500 (Very Fine)

Richard III Farthing Obverse Type 2 Richard III Farthing Reverse Type A
Richard III

Year(s): 1483-1485
Mint: London
Type/Class: 1.2a

Obverse: RICARD DI GRA REX Legend translated: Richard by the Grace of God, King

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

Reference(s): S.2171A, Withers 2/a

Scarcity: Extremely rare

Guide Price: £750 (Fine) £4500 (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

  • FPL — Fixed Price List
  • PC — Private Collections
  • wnr — weight not recorded
1.1a:
RICAR DI GRA REX / CIVITAS LOnDOn
1* PC; ex. Baldwin, May 1995 > Stewartby, Spink, 29 November 2016, lot 1472; 0.16g
1.1b:
RICARD DI GRA REX / CIVITAS LOnDOn
2 PC; ex. Harris, DNW, 11 December 2002, lot 133 > Warwick & Warwick, 19 April 2017, lot 453; wnr
3 PC; ex. Dolphin Coins, FPL 10, Winter 1996, item 61; wnr
4* PC; ex. Mark Maillard; 0.23g/5h
5 PC; detectorist find, Lincolnshire, 2016; 0.18g/7h


Footnotes

  1. Ruding, R. Annals of the Coinage of Britain and Its Dependencies from the Earliest Period of Authentick History to the End of the Fiftieth Year of the Reign of His Present Majesty King George III. Printed and sold by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, 1817.↩
  2. Withers, P. and Withers B. The Galata Guide to Small Change: Hammered Silver Farthings, Halfpennies & Three-Farthings 1279-1660. Llanfyllin, Powys: Galata Print Ltd., 2023. The obverse legend on this coin was identified by Withers, although from the photograph of the coin it is not possible to verify that the legend is RICAR DI... rather than RICARD DI....↩

Research & Resources

Contact

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