Home >> Collecting >> Coin Collecting

History of English Coins

The history of English coins spans about 1,200 years. Although some coins' names changed over the centuries, the basic system remained the same until 1971. That's when Britain changed from a system of pounds, shillings and pence, to a decimal system based on 100 pence to the pound. Until well into the 20th century, the country made most of its coins out of gold or silver, and the rest out of base metals such as copper and bronze. The reigning monarch continues to appear on each coin.

Pre-Decimal Coinage
- English kings based their coinage system on that of Charlemagne. A few translations from Latin into English gave three basic coin values: the pound, the shilling and the penny. A silver pound was divided into 240 pence. For hundreds of years, the silver penny was the only coin the English minted. The earliest coins contained 1 pennyweight of silver. Twenty pennyweights make up a troy ounce, and 12 troy ounces make up a troy pound.
Units of Account
- The other names were not actual coins, but rather units of account. A pound was divided into 20 shillings, and each shilling into 12 pence. Henry VIII minted the first shilling coin in the 16th century. Other early units of value included the mark, equal to 2/3 of a pound, or 160 pence, an amount that could also be expressed as 13 shillings, 4 pence. A medieval half-mark English coin was first called the noble, and later, the angel.
Sterling Silver
- Pure silver is too soft to make coins that withstand heavy use. From 1158, England adopted silver coins that were 92.5 percent silver, with the remainder consisting of base metal. The sterling standard remained in effect until 1920.
Gold Coins
- Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the standard gold pound coin was the guinea. First issued by Charles II in 1662, the guinea varied in size and worth according to the changing ratio of the value of gold to silver. Eventually the value became 21 shillings, so it was actually worth more than a pound. Britain solved this problem by adopting a gold standard in 1816. The following year, it issued a new coin, the sovereign. This coin remained the standard pound coin until decimalization.
Debasement and Decimalization
- The economic disasters of World War I led to a reduction in the silver content of English coins in 1920. Britain dropped the sterling standard, and silver coins then contained only 50 percent silver. In 1947, the remaining silver coins joined the penny and farthing, or 1/4 penny, in becoming alloys of copper and other base metals. Gold coins also disappeared after World War I, with paper notes replacing most denominations. In 1971, Britain replaced the entire system with a paper pound note that was worth 100 new pence. The pound became a base-metal coin in 1983.

Coin Collecting