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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 16, April 15, 2001, Article 4 HALFPENNIES AND FARTHINGS OF EDWARD I AND II E-Sylum subscriber Paul Withers announces his new book: "SMALL CHANGE - I The Halfpennies and Farthings of Edward I and II A new illustrated classification guide. Paul and Bente R Withers. A5 Card covers 60pp. Illustrated throughout with 4 : 1 illustrations £10 or in the USA, 19$ (Including postage). In the summer of 1278 much of the 'long cross' coinage, which had been in circulation for 30 years, was clipped and worn. As a result, a year later a new coinage and a recoinage occurred together. It was a watershed in British numismatics and economics. There were changes of manufacturing technique and artistic changes too, and the people were presented with a handsome new coinage with a realistic portrait and although it in no way resembles Edward himself, it is in strict contrast to the stylised and rather ugly visage of the earlier coin which is an example of the 'this is the best I can do with a few simple punches' school. Until that time, in order to make small change for minor transactions, the penny had been cut into halves, or quarters to make halfpennies and farthings. To prevent the necessity of such cutting, which gave the opportunity for fraud, two round coins, the farthing and the halfpenny were introduced, the first-mentioned introduced immediately the reforms began and the second a short while later. Large hoards of the pence have provided sufficient quantities of material to permit extensive study. However, the halfpennies and farthings, never hoarded, were rare until the the advent of the metal detector, and even now remain scarce. Frustrated by the lack of a book that catalogued these tiny coins without causing confusion we asked several people to write a guide that would explain to people like ourselves with only a little knowledge of the series exactly what was going on and why were we finding so many pieces that did not fit into the system. No one wrote anything for us, so we were forced to do the job ourselves. Once our study had begun it became obvious that the coins could not be classified using the same system as that used for the pence. Whilst the pence are quite obviously 'related' to the halfpence and the farthings and broad similarities are evident, the fine details are not the same. When isolated examples are seen, things may initially seem to match, but when hundreds of specimens are seen the coins develop their own pattern and any system of classification must reflect that natural pattern and not the system developed for the pence. The new classification is based principally on the David Rogers collection, but others, including those of the British Museum, the Fox collection, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, the Ashmolean Museum collection and several small private collections were examined." Web site: http://www.galata.co.uk/

Wayne Homren, Editor

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