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| World & Ancient Coins Discussion relating to world & ancient coins |
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It's more likely to be a tuppence (40 mm) than a penny (36 mm), since a silver dollar is 39 mm. There is no halfpenny of this type. Its catalog number is KM 619.
The idea to mint such heavy coins came from Sir Isaac Newton, master of the mint and a "natural philosopher" (empiricists). In the view of Hume, Locke and other contemporaries of Newton, coins should contain their full value in metal. The weakness of this theory was exposed when the Napoleonic wars broke out and copper prices rose (copper is handy for cannons and muskets and cannonballs and the like). Many more of these pieces would have been melted for scrap if they had not been very popular as grocer's weights. This explains why most surviving pieces are in good condition. Today, Newton's coinage theory is considered debunked, except among US silver bugs and gold bugs. Peter
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An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history. |
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