Fourpence (British coin) Victoria, designed by Joseph Boehm – the reverse is unchanged. There also exists a pattern coin, dated 1836, which bears the same obverse as the William IV issue coins, but has a different reverse, designed by William Wyon, which has the inscription instead of the words . Fourpence (British coin) The pre-decimal fourpence (4d), sometimes known as a groat (from Dutch "grootpennig" = "big penny") or fourpenny bit, was a coin worth one sixtieth of a pound sterling, or four pence. The coin was also known as a joey after the MP Joseph Hume, who spoke in favour of its
History of the English penny (1603–1707) argument was not with the king but with his "evil advisors". In 1638 a new mint was opened at Aberystwyth castle, Wales, to produce smaller coins (penny to half-crown) from locally produced silver. These are identifiable by having plumes (like the Prince of Wales's feathers on the 1967–2007 era decimal Two decimal pence coin) on the reverse. Following damage to the castle mint in 1648 there was a short-lived mint located at the actual silver mine in Aberystwyth in 1648/9, but no records have survived of what coins were produced there. With the take-over by the English Parliament of the