Great Britain (1613-14) farthing

From CoinVarieties
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Stack's Bowers September 2025 Collectors Choice sale, lot 75468
SB925-75468r.jpg
Stack's Bowers September 2025 Collectors Choice Online Auction, lot 76278
SB925-76278r.jpg

The first specimen was lot 75468 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, September 2025), where it sold for $192. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. Farthing (1/4 Penny), ND (1613-14). London Mint: mm: Fret Privy. James I. PCGS AU-55. From the Richard August Collection." The second specimen was lot 76278 in the same sale, where it sold for $216. The catalog description[1] noted, "IRELAND. Farthing (1/4 Penny), ND (1613). Harrington Issue. James I. PCGS AU-53. Struck in tin-plated copper. From the Richard August Collection." This is the first copper farthing and the first farthing issued since the reign of Henry VIII. John Harington, 1st Baron Harington (1539/40-1613) was created Baron Harington of Exton in July 1603 at the coronation of King James. He was made guardian of that king's daughter, Princess Elizabeth. The high cost of entertaining the Princess ruined him. As partial recompense Harington was granted a license to mint the first copper farthings by the king. The fret mintmark appears on the Harington arms. Numista comments, "James I and Charles I farthings were considered tokens as they were not legal tender. Despite featuring a harp, Harington farthing tokens were not used in Ireland." Strictly speaking, no copper coinage was legal tender until the reform of 1817. This loophole allowed private tokens and counterfeits to flourish in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 0.30 g, copper, 12 mm diameter.

Catalog reference: KM 49, S-2675; N-2131. The second specimen S-6520; KM-20.1.

Sources:

  • Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
  • Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
  • Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
  • [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, September 2025 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, including Selections from the Richard Margolis Collection and Selections from the L.E. Bruun Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.

Link to:

Retrieved from "https://coinvarieties.com/index.php?title=Great_Britain_(1613-14)_farthing&oldid=581816"