Little & Large

From around 1660 until 1797 the English government did not issue any penny coins, causing many problems amongst the working classes who desperately needed low value coinage to get by in life.

So, in 1797 they minted copper pennies and twopences, which were dubbed ‘cartwheels’ because of their ridiculous weight and size. They had by law to contain copper to match the face value of the coin itself, so the twopence (pictured) weighed 2 ounces!

The value of copper rocketed shortly afterwards and so these coins were being scrapped, which forced the public back to using token coinage issued by companies & shops. It wasn’t until 1860 that the classic United Kingdom penny came into general use, all the way until the last mintage in 1967.

The other coin is a 1904 silver 2.5 cents from Panama - totally at the other end of the scale, although like the 1797 coin still fitting into the category of ‘rather ill-thought-out design’.

Will coins disappear altogether soon? Some think so. I reckon they’ve got another generation or two before this happens 🤞🏻