HALF PENNY: COIN OF UNITED KINGDOM
Half penny, 1967: United Kingdom
Ruler: Elizabeth II — Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death in 2022.
HALF PENNY.
Golden Hind — three-masted ship, galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world (1577-1580).
HP: micromark of English designer and medalist Thomas Humphrey Paget.
ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA F: D: Elizabeth II by the Grace of God Queen Defender of the Faith.
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
Coin design: Thomas Humphrey Paget (ship) and Mary Gillick (portrait of the monarch).
Royal Mint (United Kingdom).
Mintage: 146.490.400.
- Bronze: 25 mm - 5.71 g
- Reference price: 0.5$
COIN HALF PENNY — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- UNITED KINGDOM (10th-20th centuries): half penny = 2 farthing = 1/2 penny
HALF PENNY as coin name.
Half Penny / Halfpenny — purely British historical coin with a value of 1/2 penny.
The halfpenny coin does not have the same ancient history as the penny, which appeared as early as the 8th century, but it can also be considered a witness to long-ago events. The first silver coins, half the size of a penny, belong to the 10th century. Also at that time, the practice of cutting coins in half was common — for small calculations. The penny was optimal for such a task: the coin contained the image of a straight cross, which made it easier to fairly accurately divide the coin into 2 pieces (or even 4).
Later, the halfpenny became the typical coin of Great Britain for almost 800 years.
Historically, a halfpenny was 1/480th of a British pound. Initially, it was a small silver coin, which until the end of the 17th century finally transformed into a copper (bronze) coin. However, on the border between the 17th and 18th centuries an extraordinary phenomenon for that time happened: bimetallic tin-copper coins were issued. A piece of copper was placed in the center of the pewter ring. It is interesting that counterfeiters of that time did not shy away from counterfeiting even such technologically difficult coins... Their fake copies were made of lead.
The last coins, the denomination of which is indicated in the half penny format, date from 1971. From 1971 to 1984, the denomination was listed as 1/2 penny.
In addition to the halfpenny, actually, of Great Britain, similar coins of other issuers — dependent territories — are known in numismatics. In particular, we are talking about half pennies of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Canada (tokens of the 19th century), Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Ghana, Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Jamaica...
The name of the halfpenny coin does not reflect anything other than its value: 1/2 penny. It is interesting that the British halfpenny is a kind of cult coin, which is widely mentioned in pop culture: cinema, music, names of all kinds of institutions...
