The English three halfpence, a silver coin worth
d, was introduced in
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
's third and fourth coinages (1561–1582) as part of a plan to produce large quantities of coins of varying denominations and high silver content.
The obverse shows a left-facing bust of the queen, with a rose behind her, with the legend
E D G ROSA SINE SPINA – Elizabeth
by the grace of God
By the Grace of God (, abbreviated D.G.) is a formulaic phrase used especially in Christian monarchies as an introductory part of the full styles of a monarch. In England and later the United Kingdom, the phrase was formally added to the royal sty ...
a rose without a thorn – while the reverse shows the royal arms with the date above the arms and a mintmark at the beginning of the legend
CIVITAS LONDON – City of London, the Tower Mint. It was worth
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
, or
pound sterling
Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...
.
The three-halfpence coin closely resembles the
three-farthing coin and the
thruppence coin, which differed only in the diameter. This is in an unclipped coin, compared to for the three-farthings, and for the thruppence (except 1561, which was ).
No three-halfpences were produced after 1582, probably because under both
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
* James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
* James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
* James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334†...
and
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
large quantities of halfpennies and farthings were produced.
See also
*
Three halfpence (British coin)
The British three halfpence coin was a denomination of sterling coinage worth of one pound or of one shilling. It was produced for circulation in the British colonies, mainly in Ceylon and the West Indies in each year between 1834 and 1843, a ...
, a 19th-century coin
References
{{Reflist
Three Halfpence
Tudor England
16th century in economic history