New Tuppance
JCMhouston
Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭
One of my very few purchases over the last month, 1797 Two Pence in MS63 BN, the first use of Kuchlers Britannia design with a trident instead of a spear.
Coined by Boulton at his Soho mint using James Watt's steam engine, the penny and two pence were the first regal coinage minted at Soho. Piror to this Boulton had been involved in coining many of the tokens issued throughout Great Britain (beginning in 1789) as well as coinage for overseas use (1793 Bermuda Penny), they also had minted many patterns for the British government starting around 1788 in order to try to win contracts. The Soho mint was also responsible for the later Bank of England tokens including the 1804 Bank of England Dollar.
These were huge coins as Boulton believed that copper coinage should provide the full value of the copper less only a small amount for the cost of coining. The twopence was 40.64mm diameter, 5mm thick and weighed a full 2 oz.(for comparison a US Morgan sivler dollar is 38.1mm diameter and weighs approximately 1 oz.) . This was the only year for these large pennies and twopence and they are often referred to as cartwheel coinage due to their large size. These often suffer from damage to the edges due to the unwieldy size, and the TPG's often let rim bumps go that they would flag as damage on other coins. Although there are some rare pattern and proofs in Gilt and silver the twopence is really quite a common coin and they are available in just about any major auction.
Coined by Boulton at his Soho mint using James Watt's steam engine, the penny and two pence were the first regal coinage minted at Soho. Piror to this Boulton had been involved in coining many of the tokens issued throughout Great Britain (beginning in 1789) as well as coinage for overseas use (1793 Bermuda Penny), they also had minted many patterns for the British government starting around 1788 in order to try to win contracts. The Soho mint was also responsible for the later Bank of England tokens including the 1804 Bank of England Dollar.
These were huge coins as Boulton believed that copper coinage should provide the full value of the copper less only a small amount for the cost of coining. The twopence was 40.64mm diameter, 5mm thick and weighed a full 2 oz.(for comparison a US Morgan sivler dollar is 38.1mm diameter and weighs approximately 1 oz.) . This was the only year for these large pennies and twopence and they are often referred to as cartwheel coinage due to their large size. These often suffer from damage to the edges due to the unwieldy size, and the TPG's often let rim bumps go that they would flag as damage on other coins. Although there are some rare pattern and proofs in Gilt and silver the twopence is really quite a common coin and they are available in just about any major auction.
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