"Old Copper Nose"

SwK

Hi

Ever heard the saying "old copper nose" I would like to hear were the phrase was first used. The coin of Heny VIII is for sure not a 50/50% silver alloy but mant coins of Henery VIII were. Afte a slight amount of wear the copper came to the high points and the nose was a high point.

Does the devaluation of the currency remind you of the problems of today

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SaorAlba

At it's worst, coinage silver declined to approximately .333 fine, or 1/3 fine silver late in his reign. This coinage was continued early into the reign of EVI, but in HVIII's name. There was a minimal coinage in EVI's name in billon silver, but by 1550 sterling had returned. It is oft believed that coinage in Britain only returned to sterling in EI's reign, but actually this happened eight years before in EVI's reign. The sterling crowns of 1550-1 are some of the most beautiful coins of that era in silver.

Hussulo

Ah "Old Copper Nose" an interesting story.

Before Henry's reign, all valuable English coins were struck using valuable metals (gold and silver) whose face value was much the same as their bullion value.

To pay for his wars and so as not to use a lot of silver, Henry decided to mix the silver in his coins with copper.
Soon the "silver" coins were so debased that they contained more copper than silver. This led to many people calling him "Old Copper Nose" as the copper in the coins tended to show through first on the high surfaces like the nose of the portrait.

The debasement of the coinage resulted in huge inflation. People demanded more of the impure coins as payment and the price of imports increased as foreigners would not accept debased currency as payment.

The economic downfall caused by the debasement of the coins and subsequent inflation apparently continued into the 1560s.