Britain - Model 1/8 Farthing 1848

Britain wasn't actually considering it, officially. These "model coins" are in effect private patterns. It was legal to make them precisely because there were no real legal tender eighth-farthing coins for them to be confused with. Apparently there was some kind of legal precedent that stated that since such "model coins" were not directly copying legal tender coins, and since they were not being issued and sold with the purpose of entering commerce (i.e. as "tokens", which were banned in Britain at the time), that they were therefore not illegal to make and sell.

The actual motivation for producing "model coins" varied, depending on who was actually doing the making. Some, like the Joseph Moore model bimetallic pennies and crowns, were a serious attempt to produce private patterns to convince the Mint or Government to switch to coins actually resembling the models. Some seem to have been produced and sold simply as play money for children (no-one worried about making toys choke-proof back then!). While others seem to have been produced with the express aim of entering circulation for face value, in among the confusing mix of denominations in circulation in Britain in the mid-1800s, in the hopes that no-one noticed the little word "model" on them.

Model coins were so commonly seen on the streets at one time that the Mint had to put out bulletins on occasion, reminding people that "model coins" weren't real coins and shouldn't be accepted as legal tender.

Very interesting, Sap. And thanks, Paul, for posting this model coin!

Half-farthings were the lowest denomination that actually circulated in the UK. The third- and quarter-farthings were struck for use in colonies (notably Malta and Ceylon) where various other currencies circulated alongside sterling, to make up change.

Very interesting!