Farthing And Another Coin | Halfpenny

Hello Billyboy,

These are British predecimal coins. A farthing was 1/4 penny. Your first coin is a farthing in bronze with the effigy of George V and legends : GEORGIVS V DEI GRA(tia) BRITT(anniarum) OMN(ium) REX FID(ei) DEF(ensor) IND(ium) IMP(eratorem) = George V, by the grace of God king of Great Britain (litterally king of all the Britains), defender of the faith, emperor of India.

You don't tell anything about the size of the other coin. If it is a bit bigger than the other (22 mm instead of 20 mm), it is a copper farthing in the name of queen Victoria. You can see the legends are similar: VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITTANNAR(um) REG(ina) FID(ei) DEF(ensor): Victoria, by the grace of God queen of Great-Britain, defender of the faith.

He's just added the diameters to the OP.

At 28mm, it's a halfpenny. Sadly, with that amount of damage, it's value will be minimal.


The difference is in the finish. Up to partway through 1918, farthings were deliberately blackened before they left the mint; this was to prevent their casual confusion with the gold sovereign and half-sovereign, which were about the same size. Gold coins had disappeared from circulation by 1918, so there was no point in continuing the blackening process.

Unless Billyboy's scanner is much better at brightening images of backened copper than mine is, this would be a "bright finish" example. Pity; the "dark finish" ones for that year are scarcer.