Probably a stupid question, but I can't seem to get it straight in my head....

rhound1977

My questions revolves around the 1,2,3,4, and 6 silver pences, specifically from George III to present. I know many were only issued as Maundy sets (which I do not collect) and others were considered circulating issues.

Here is what I think I know/understand;

A. No silver one or two pences were issued from GIII to present for circulation.

B. Groats or 4 pences were issued for general circulation.

C. 6 pences were issued for general circulation.

Now my confusion is around the three pence, was it issued for general circulation?

Any help/pointing in the right direction is appreciated..... Maybe if I did more reading I wouldn't be asking this stupid question.......

Lloyd

I believe the silver 3d was issued for circulation from 1834 to 1944. This must not be confused with the 3d issued for Maundy sets which as it happens is just about IDENTICAL. Telling them apart needs a trained eye in most cases.

The 6d is irrelevant - not part of Maundy sets (only 1 2 3 4d)

L

wybrit

Coincraft is a good resource to answer your questions. Here I paraphrase.

The groat, a coin the same size as the silver 3d, was issued for circulation. It's the one with the Britannia reverse.

The threepence was made both for maundy sets and issued for circulation. Some of the early years in the Victoria series were struck specifically for colonial use, so it is more likely to find a maundy 3d of those years for sale than a circulation piece.

Until 1926, maundy and business strike 3ds carried the same design. They are in many cases indistinguishable. I'll bet even some experts are fooled at times. The problem is that the business strikes in high grade are worth far more than the maundy pieces. Maundy sets are broken up and sold as oddments except for the 3ds. The 3ds are then sold at the higher price. In spite of low mintages, the maundy coins rarely circulated, so large percentages of each year survive in EF and UNC. Business strikes are very tough to find in top grade.

In some years the 3ds were struck only for maundy sets, such as 1923 and 1924.

rhound1977

Thanks Lloyd, I thought some 3d's were issued for circulation, but with the same design, just a different strike/planchet?

wybrit

Maundy money was struck prooflike, so the strikes were allegedly superior to the business strikes. This is pretty tough to tell pre-1868 because the portrait is so well strcuk. The PL finish is also tough to see if the coin tones.

rhound1977

Wybrit, Thanks for the pointer, guess I need to crack open my coincraft again, and take some notes. Thanks for the paraphrase and your time.

Glenn

Aethelred

Glenn,

That is in fact a very valid question that many people have trouble with.

Until sometime during the riegn of George III ( I suspect about 1795) the only coin used as Maundy was the Penny. From about 1800 on all four denominations have been used in the Maundy ceremony. However, some of those demoninations were also issued for general use. As such you can not always tell if a particular coin was a Maundy or circulation coin. Also, until 1909 more coins were issued than were needed for the ceremony and these were sold at banks and as such can't be considered true Maundy coins.

As a general rule, the Penny and Halfgroat were Maundy only coins after 1800 while the Threepence and Groat were issued for both circulation and Maundy.

Hope this helps!

1jester

I'm still confused. Oh well.

SYRACUSIAN

Does anybody know, why the groat and the 3d have the same size but different nominal value? Didn't this cause problems at a time when the intrinsic value of a coin was related (more or less) to its nominal one?

wybrit

Does anybody know, why the groat and the 3d have the same size but different nominal value? Didn't this cause problems at a time when the intrinsic value of a coin was related (more or less) to its nominal one?

It was a silly thing. One difference is that the 3d is plain-edged and the 4d is not.

Avarel

As I understand it, the groat is I believe 1.9g whereas the 3d is 1.4g weight. I thought the groat was removed as a general circulation coin in the early Vic timeframe because of the confusion with sizing at 16mm as the 3d.