History of the halfpenny

This article is about the history of the pre-decimal British and English halfpenny coin. For the decimal halfpenny, see Halfpenny (British decimal coin). For the British halfpenny minted between 1717 and 1967, see Halfpenny (British pre-decimal coin).

The obverse of a halfpenny, showing Edward VII

The British halfpenny coin was worth 1/480th of a pound sterling. At first in its 700-year history it was made from silver, but as the value of silver increased the coin was made from base metals. It was finally abandoned in 1969 as part of the process of decimalising the British currency. "Halfpenny", colloquially written ha'penny, was pronounced /ˈheɪpəni/ HAY-pə-nee; "1 ½d" was spoken as a penny ha'penny /əˈpɛniˈheɪpni/ or three ha'pence /θriːˈheɪpəns/.[1]

It was long considered that the first halfpenny coins were produced in the reign of King Edward I (1272–1307), with earlier requirements for small change being provided by "cut coinage"; that is, pennies cut into halves or quarters, usually along the cross which formed a prominent part of the reverse of the coin. However, in recent years metal detectorists have discovered a few halfpennies of Kings Henry I (1100–1135) and Henry III (1216–1272) – these are extremely rare and very little is known about them; they have all been found in the London area, where they circulated alongside the more common cut coinage, and while it is possible that these coins were patterns or trials, it is clear that they did see circulation. It is possible that there are other coins or issues still to be discovered.

  1. ^ "halfpenny". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)