Great Britain 1923 penny KM-811a
This specimen was part of lot 47483 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2026), which sold for $288. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. Maundy Set (4 Pieces), 1923. London Mint. George V. Average Grade: ABOUT UNCIRCULATED. 1) 4 Pence. 2) 3 Pence. 3) 2 Pence. 4) Penny." This type was struck in billon for the Maundy sets 1921-27. Altho some silver pennies seem to have been struck for circulation during the reign of George III (d. 1820), by the twentieth century the denomination was obsolete, superseded by the familiar bronze penny with Britannia ruling the waves on the reverse. It was only a relic of the coin which once dominated medieval commerce. As most Maundy sets were carefully preserved by their recipients, Maundy coins are today much more available than the low mintage would indicate.
Recorded mintage: 1,840.
Specification: 0.47 g, 0.500 fine silver.
Catalog reference: S-4031; KM-811a. The set: S-4027; KM-MDS181.
- Bressett, Kenneth E., A Guide Book of English Coins, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1962.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Rayner, P. Alan, and Maurice Bull, English Silver Coinage from 1649, 6th Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2015.
- 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, January 2026 NYINC Showcase Auction, Ancient and World Coins, featuring the Kazmier Wysocki Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
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