The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

half farthing was a denomination of sterling coinage worth of a

pound Pound or Pounds may refer to: Units * Pound (currency), a unit of currency * Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom * Pound (mass), a unit of mass * Pound (force), a unit of force * Rail pound, in rail profile Symbols * Po ...

, of a

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

, or of a

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

. It was minted in copper for use in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, but in 1842 was also declared legal tender in the United Kingdom. Two different obverses were used. Like all British coinage, it bore the portrait of the monarch on the obverse. Before

Decimal Day Decimal Day in the United Kingdom and in Ireland was Monday 15 February 1971, the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pounds, shillings, and pence. Before this date, the British pound sterling (symbol "£" ...

in 1971, sterling used the

Carolingian monetary system The Carolingian monetary system, also called the Carolingian coinage systempound divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. Each penny was further divided into 4 farthings, thus a pound contained 1,920 half farthings and a shilling contained 96 half farthings.

History

The coin was initially produced in 1828 for use in

, and again in 1830. The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...

of the coin bears the left-facing portrait of

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

, with the inscription GEORGIUS IV DEI GRATIA date while the

reverse Reverse or reversing may refer to: Arts and media * ''Reverse'' (Eldritch album), 2001 * ''Reverse'' (2009 film), a Polish comedy-drama film * ''Reverse'' (2019 film), an Iranian crime-drama film * ''Reverse'' (Morandi album), 2005 * ''Reverse'' ...

shows a seated

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...

with shield, facing right and holding a trident, with the inscription BRITANNIAR REX FID DEF. There was no indication of its value. The coin was made of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

, weighed 2.4

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure wate ...

s, and had a diameter of 18 millimetres. In 1837, in the reign of

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

, there was another issue, also of copper, 18 millimetres in diameter, but only weighing 2.3 grams. The obverse of this coin bears the right-facing portrait of William IV with the inscription GULIELMUS IIII DEI GRATIA 1837, and the same reverse as before. In the reign of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, coins were minted for circulation in 1839, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1847, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, and 1856. Again they were made of copper, 18 millimetres in diameter, and weighed 2.4 grams (except for 1856, which was 2.3 grams). The design changed considerably from what went before—the obverse bears the left-facing portrait of Queen Victoria, with the inscription VICTORIA D G BRITANNIAR REGINA F D , while the reverse bears a crown above the words HALF FARTHING with (1839) a rose with three leaves at the bottom of the coin, or (1842 and later) a rose, thistle, and shamrock. The change in design was because the coin was additionally made legal tender in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

from 13 June 1842. There was much cynicism of the need for such a coin in Britain, with letters written to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', but the coin did indeed circulate widely in Britain and Ceylon. The purchasing value of a penny in 1844, at 2013 purchasing power, was (at its lowest) 35p sterling. A half-farthing, therefore (one eighth of a penny) would have had a value in 2013 of 4.375p (pence sterling). Yet, as of 2014, the UK still had widely circulating coins of just 1p and 2p. The half-farthing therefore was not of so minuscule a value as (middle-class) writers of the day (1844) might imagine. Unadjusted for inflation, its conversion to modern denominations would place it at slightly more than one twentieth of a decimal penny. The entire issue was demonetised from 1 January 1870.

References

{{British coinage History of British coinage

Half Farthing The United Kingdom, British half farthing was a denomination of Coins of the United Kingdom, sterling coinage worth of a Pound (currency), pound, of a Shilling (British coin), shilling, or of a Penny (British pre-decimal coin), penny. It was mi ...

Coins of Sri Lanka