George III Cartwheel Penny

This tuppence coin was given to me by a boy I used to teach way back in the 1970s - thanks Nick. It is a George III 'cartwheel' penny and it was minted in 1797. By this time in Britain counterfeiting was rampant, real coins were getting worn out, and the supply of good small denomination coinage was running low. So these giant copper coins were created. They were the first coins minted on a steam-driven machine.

But what is most impressive about these coins is their size! This two-pence is an inch and three-quarters (4 cm) in diameter and a quarter inch (4 mm) thick. It weighs a full two ounces, and its cousin, the one penny weighed one ounce, which made them useful as counter weights. That is one reason so many may have survived in relatively good condition.

King George III may have gone down in history as the mad king, or the British king who lost us the American Colonies, but at least in one area he was unsurpassed - the size and weight of his coinage in 1797!

Information from living-in-the-past.com