Great Britain 1721 half penny
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This specimen was lot 75038 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice Online Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, May 2025), where it sold for $192. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. 1/2 Penny, 1721. London Mint. George I. NGC EF-40." This type was struck 1719-24. A 1721/0 overdate is reported. A heavily used denomination, it is common in low grade but scarce choice. The mint did not produce near enough small change for the industrial boom of the eighteenth century, leading to a proliferation of private tokens. The situation would not be rectified until the reform of 1817.
Recorded mintage: unknown but common.
Specifications: 9.86 g, copper, 27 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: S-3660; KM-557.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- Freeman, Michael J., The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain, Rev. Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2006.
- Peck, C. Wilson, English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum, 1558-1958, 2nd Ed., London: Oxford University Press, 1970.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, May 2025 World Collectors Choice Online Auction: Ancient & World Coins, featuring selections from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
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