Medieval English Hammered Farthings: Henry VIII - Canterbury

This online guide is designed to help

• Metal Detector enthusiasts
• Museum Curators
• Coin Dealers & Collectors

accurately identify and classify their English Hammered Farthings.

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Overview:

Henry VII accumulated an enormous wealth and it took Henry VIII many years to squander it. Only when his resources were nearly depleted did Henry VIII seek easy solutions to guarding English coinage against competitive foreign currencies - the debasement of his coinage. Gold was reduced to 0.83 fineness and silver eventually to 0.33 fineness. One major design change was the introduction of the portcullis/rose farthing as a means of differentiating between the farthing and the diminutive half-penny. The Hammered Silver Farthings of Henry VIII are all extremely rare - and those of the Canterbury mint excessively so.

The Canterbury mint was the ecclesiastic mint of the Archbishop of York, Thomas Cranmer.².

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Date: 1526-1544
Mint: Canterbury
Type: SECOND COINAGE

Diameter: 9mm
Weight: 0.16g (2½ grains¹)

Obverse: RVTILANS ROSA around a Portcullis
    Legend translated:
        A dazzling Rose

Reverse: DEO GRACIAS
    Rose on "Long Cross"
    Mint mark: Catherine Wheel
    Legend translated:
        By the Grace of God

Reference(s):
  S.2363A
  N.1821/2
Scarcity: Extremely Rare

Guide Price:
  £550 (Fine)
  £1200 (Very Fine)

Sold by:

• (March 2001) A good/very fine example of this coin was sold to P. Broomfield at auction by Spink (15 March 2001: The Roger Shuttlewood Collection of Tudor Silver Coins. Sale 151, Lot 154) for £1150.

Note:
  Provenance: Found at Canterbury, 1987. Was published in Numismatic
  Circular, September 1987, p.218.

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¹ SEABY, BA. (ed) 1948: Notes on English Silver Coins 1066-1648 to help
  collectors in their classification (London, Seaby). pp 87

² WHITTON, CA. 1950-52: 'The Coinage of Henry VIII and Edward VI in
  Henry's Name' BNJ 26, p. 56-89, 171-212, 290-332.

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