they stopped making solid copper pennies in 1857.
they stopped making solid copper pennies in 1857.
when did they stop making solid copper pennies?
1857
by 1857, both the royal mint and the public were dissatisfied by the state of the copper coinage. much of it was worn or defaced by advertisements, and 14 percent of the pennies in commerce were boulton's 1797 cartwheels. the fact that pennies of different specifications circulated side by side precluded the weighing of quantities of copper coin to ascertain the value. both sorts of pennies were deemed too heavy for daily use. the copper coins were so heavy that charles dickens in "nicholas nickleby" had mr mantalini contemplate suicide by drowning himself in the thames, his pockets filled with halfpennies.
history of the british penny (1714–1901)
the pennies of queen victoria (1837–1901) form one of the most intricate denominations of british coinage, both before and after the transition from copper to bronze pennies in 1860. a number of specialist books have been published on the many varieties of victorian pennies. the final years of the copper penny, from 1839 to 1860, saw a portrait of the queen by william wyon, usually dubbed the "young head". it had a reverse largely unchanged from king william's but for changing an x to a g, thus became , short for regina (queen), denoting the fact that the monarch was now a woman. thus, the legend on victorian copper pennies was . copper pennies were issued for all years between 1839 and 1860 except 1840, 1842, 1850, and 1852. the heaton mint, of birmingham, had been founded with equipment from the wound-up soho mint. beginning in the early 1850s, it supplied large quantities of blanks for pennies to the royal mint, and at times was called upon to strike pennies, though its mint mark h would not appear on pennies until 1874. these contracts were because of the needs of ireland (where counterfeits and tokens were common) and the colonies; the large quantities struck between 1797 and 1807 by boulton ensured there were no shortages in england, scotland and wales.
history of the british penny (1714–1901)