King George from 1917

Started by ghipszky, June 20, 2009, 01:09:05 AM

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ghipszky

Here is a King George V that is in very good shape. I am sure it is Brittania on reverse.
And I know who the king is and that it is 1917.
What else should I know about this coin?
Ginger

Overlord

KM# 808.1, mintage 21,435,000. The initials under the head (BM) are of the designer Bertram MacKennal (1863-1931).

BC Numismatics

Ginger,
  You have got a pretty common British Farthing there.

The monarch is King George V (reigned 1910-36),who was Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather.

Here's an article; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthing .

Aidan.

ghipszky

I like the last description. I didn't know that about the Biblical Farthing was the Roman Quadrans.
Ginger

ghipszky

Thanks for the help on this one. Also, I found a few Queen Elizabeth coins in a box today while I was cleaning. I will be posting them one by one.
Ginger

Figleaf

#5
There's so much to say about this coin. It's a piece struck with advanced machinery, but it's character is medieval with some later influences. The word farthing comes from the Saxon fourthling, which is a descriptive of a piece cut in four, like this one. The first farthings were struck in England, under Henry III (1216-1272). The denomination disappeared after Edward VI (1547-1553). The first copper farthings appeared in 1613. They were not produced by the government, but by private parties with a letter of patent (license), as copper coins were thought of as unworthy of royal attention. The issue failed and led to a flood of privately issued trade token farthings.

The government got into the copper farthing business in 1672. It took another flood of trade tokens in the Napoleonic wars before they were taken seriously, though. In 1816, a reform of the coinage created modern British coins and beat back the third wave of trade tokens. From 1860 to 1956, smaller farthings were made of bronze.

The head with latin text design dates back to the early middle ages, slightly modified in the renaissance with demands that the head should be portrayed sideways, looking in alternative directions for consecutive monarchs. These were useful conventions when coins were often quite worn, as portraits "en face" would wear to a big dot and the silhouet of a nose sticking out could help determine the age of a coin. However, when coins started to be struck in hard metals like bronze with precision machinery and in sufficient quantity, there was no more practical need for them. Nevertheless, Edward VIII's demand that the portrait would not alternate was vehemently objected to.

Latin titles have some utility when coins would often find themselves in foreign lands, especially in the middle ages. However, in 1917 they were just a way for the British government to state its opposition to the accomplishments of the French revolution, ironically, at a time when the French were allies. GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX FID DEF IND IMP stands for George V by the grace of god king of all the Britons, defender of the faith, emperor of India. A fine irony is that Britons was the name used by the Celtic inhabitants ending up in Wales and Cornwall. They called the invaders Sais (Saxons). Defender of the Faith was a title Henry VIII gave to himself when he started his own religion. Emperor of India was a title acquired after the great mutiny/first war of independence of 1857. Bahadur Shah II had proclaimed himself emperor of India. When he was captured and sent into exile, the title went to Victoria.

The reverse was first used on the copper coins of the restoration. At the time, it was thought (Samuel Pepys mentions the story) that a royal mistress had posed for it, half naked. Another numismatic legend is that it was inspired by a Roman coin. The reverse was updated several times until it disappeared from the farthing in 1937. It depicts a personification of the country, Britannia, as a woman in Greek or Roman dress covering at least one breast (here both) seated on a rock, on wool packs or on crates with offensive (here a trident, attribute of Neptune, the god of the sea) and defensive (shield and helmet) arms.

Peter

(With thanks to Tony Clayton, whose web site I used)
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

tonyclayton

One more thing about this coin is that it was issued after being artificially darkened to avoid confusion with the half sovereign, a practise that ceased the following year.

The 1916 coin illustrated below is almost uncirculated, and was bought with half a dozen others from an antique dealer who did not realise what they were!  It shows almost full 'lustre'!

Figleaf

Why almost unc? The eyebrow is complete and there's no sign of wear on the hand or ankle. A real gem ...

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

tonyclayton

Quote from: Figleaf on June 28, 2009, 10:43:20 PM
Why almost unc? The eyebrow is complete and there's no sign of wear on the hand or ankle. A real gem ...

Peter

I would say almost because there are definite signs of scuffing on the obverse.  I agree that it is a nice coin, and the best of the half dozen I picked out of an 'odd coins' box.