How Small?

The picture shows a 1797 ‘cartwheel’ twopence (which was a hefty 2 ounces of copper) circled by a few three-halfpence coins, which was a short-lived denomination equivalent to 1/160th of a pound…....which now makes decimalisation seem like a good idea now!

The three-halfpence was produced on-and-off from 1834 until 1862 for use in the colonies, mainly in Ceylon and the West Indies, where the English threepence and sixpence also circulated.

Weighing less than a gram of silver it is smaller than our current 5p coin and must have been hard to handle and easy to lose.

In Jamaica it was called a ‘quatty’ because it was a quarter of a sixpence.

In terms of value most are worth between £10 & £20 in Fine to Very Fine condition, and between £100 & £200 for uncirculated examples.