Editing Penny (section)

==History==

===Antiquity===
{{main|Ancient Drachma|l1=Drachma|Shekel|Denarius}}
The medieval silver penny was modeled on similar coins in antiquity, such as the [[Ancient drachma|Greek drachma]], the [[Carthaginian currency|Carthaginian]] [[shekel]], and the [[Roman currency|Roman]] [[denarius]]. Forms of these seem to have reached as far as [[Norway]] and [[Sweden]].{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} The use of [[Roman currency]] in [[Britannia|Britain]], seems to have fallen off after the [[Roman withdrawal from Britain|Roman withdrawal]] and subsequent [[Saxon invasions of England|Saxon invasions]].

{{anchor|Silver penny}}

===Frankish Empire===
{{main|French denier}}
[[Charlemagne]]'s father [[Pepin the Short]] instituted a [[Carolingian Renaissance#Carolingian currency|major currency reform]] around {{nowrap|AD 755,}}<!--EB11 mistaken--><ref name=surfingwiththeallen>{{harvp|Allen|2009}}.</ref> aiming to reorganize [[Francia]]'s previous [[silver standard]] with a standardized .940-fine {{lang|fr|[[French denier|denier]]}} ({{langx|la|[[denarius]]}}) weighing <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>240</sub> [[units of measurement in France before the French Revolution#Mass|pound]].<ref name=chown>{{harvp|Chown|1994|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=E4OGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 23] }}.</ref> (As the [[Carolingian pound]] seems to have been about 489.5&nbsp;[[gram]]s,{{sfnp|Ferguson|1974|loc="[https://books.google.com/books?id=nfsFPrla1QEC&pg=PA328 Pound]"}}{{sfnp|Munro|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=eLk6CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT31 31]}} each penny weighed about 2&nbsp;[[gram]]s.) Around 790, [[Charlemagne]] introduced a new .950 or .960-fine penny with a smaller diameter. Surviving specimens have an average weight of {{nowrap|1.70 grams,}} although some estimate the original intended mass at {{nowrap|1.76 grams.}}{{sfnp|Cipolla|1993|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3zCJ_sN6K0C&pg=PA129 129]}}{{sfnp|Frassetto|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yW-GfElbafQC&pg=PA131 131]}}{{sfnp|NBB|2006}} But despite the purity and quality of these pennies, they were often rejected by traders throughout the Carolingian period, in favor of the gold coins used elsewhere; this led to repeated legislation against such refusal, to accept the king's currency.<ref name=stannis>{{harvp|Suchodolski|1983}}.</ref>

===England===
{{main|English penny|Gold penny|History of the halfpenny|Farthing (English coin)|Maundy money}}
{{Coin image box 2 singles
|image_left   = Image:Coin of Æthelred the Unready.jpg
|image_right  = Image:Aethelred rev2.jpg
|caption_left = '''[[Obverse and reverse|O:]]''' Draped bust of Aethelred left. {{lang|ang|+ÆĐELRED REX ANGLOR[UM]|italic=no}}
|caption_right= '''[[Obverse and reverse|R:]]''' Long cross. {{lang|ang|+EADǷOLD MO CÆNT|italic=no}}
|width_left   = 150
|width_right  = 150
|position     = left
|margin       = 4
|footer       = [[Anglo-Saxon]] silver "Long Cross" penny of [[Aethelred II]], moneyer Eadwold, Canterbury, {{circa|997}}–1003. The cross made cutting the coin into half-pennies or [[farthing (British coin)|farthings]] (quarter-pennies) easier.  (Note spelling ''Eadƿold'' in inscription, using Anglo-Saxon letter [[wynn]] in place of modern ''w''.)}}
Some of the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] kingdoms initially copied the [[solidus (coin)|solidus]], the late Roman [[gold coin]]; at the time, however, [[gold]] was so rare and valuable that even the smallest coins had such a great value that they could only be used in very large transactions and were sometimes not available at all. Around 641–670, there seems to have been a movement to use coins with lower gold content. This decreased their value and may have increased the number that could be minted, but these paler coins do not seem to have solved the problem of the value and scarcity of the currency. The miscellaneous [[silver coin|silver]] [[sceattas]] minted in [[Frisia]] and [[Anglo-Saxon England]] after around 680 were probably known as "pennies" at the time. (The misnomer is based on a probable misreading of the Anglo-Saxon legal codes.){{sfn|Bosworth & al}} Their purity varied and their weight fluctuated from about 0.8 to about 1.3 grams. They continued to be minted in [[East Anglia]] under [[Beonna]] and in [[Northumbria]] as late as the mid-9th century.

The first Carolingian-style pennies were introduced by [[Kings of Mercia|King]] [[Offa of Mercia]] ({{abbr|r.|reigned}} 757–796), modeled on Pepin's system. His first series was {{frac|240}} of the [[Saxon pound]] of {{nowrap|5400 [[grain (unit)|grains]]}} {{nowrap|(350 grams)}}, giving a [[pennyweight]] of about {{nowrap|1.46 [[gram]]s.}} His queen [[Cynethryth]] also minted these coins under her own name.{{sfnp|Blackburn & al.|1986|p=277}} Near the end of his reign, Offa minted his coins in imitation of Charlemagne's reformed pennies. Offa's coins were imitated by [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]], [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]], [[Kingdom of Wessex|Wessex]] and [[Northumbria]], as well as by two [[Archbishop of Canterbury|Archbishops of Canterbury]].{{sfnp|Blackburn & al.|1986|p=277}} As in the Frankish Empire,<ref name=chown/> all these pennies were notionally fractions of [[shilling]]s ({{lang|la|[[solidus (coin)|solidi]]}}; {{lang|fr|[[solidus (coin)#France|sol]]}}) and [[pound sterling|pounds]] ({{lang|la|[[libra (weight)|librae]]}}; {{lang|fr|[[French livre|livres]]}}) but during this period neither larger unit was minted. Instead, they functioned only as notional [[unit of account|units of account]].{{sfnp|Keary|2005|p=xxii}} (For instance, a "shilling" or "solidus" of grain was a measure equivalent to the amount of grain that 12 pennies could purchase.){{sfnp|Scott|1964|p=40}} English currency was notionally .925-fine [[sterling silver]] at the time of [[Henry II of England|Henry II]], but the weight and value of the silver penny steadily declined from 1300 onwards.

In 1257, [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] minted a [[gold penny]] which had the nominal value of 1 shilling 8 pence (i.e. 20 ''d.''). At first, the coin proved unpopular because it was overvalued for its weight; by 1265 it was so undervalued—the [[bullion]] value of its gold being worth 2 shillings (i.e. 24 ''d.'') by then—that the coins still in circulation were almost entirely melted down for the value of their gold. Only eight gold pennies are known to survive.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.coinandbullionpages.com/|title=Coin and Bullion Pages|contribution-url=http://www.coinandbullionpages.com/english-gold-coins/gold-penny.html|contribution=The Gold Penny|access-date=2016-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160210202212/http://www.coinandbullionpages.com/|archive-date=2016-02-10|url-status=live}}.</ref> It was not until the reign of {{nowrap|[[Edward III of England|Edward III]]}} that the [[florin (English coin)|florin]] and [[noble (English coin)|noble]] established a common gold currency in England.

[[File:Medieval coin, Penny of Henry V -VI (FindID 505636).jpg|thumb|A worn medieval penny, probably dating from the reigns of Henry VI–VII, AD 1413–1461]]
The earliest [[history of the halfpenny|halfpenny]] and [[Farthing (English coin)|farthing]] (¼''d.'') found date from the reign of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]. The need for small change was also sometimes met by simply cutting a full penny into halves or quarters. In 1527, [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] abolished the [[Tower pound]] of 5400 [[grain (unit)|grains]], replacing it with the [[Troy pound]] of 5760 grains (making a penny 5760/240 = 24 grains) and establishing a new [[pennyweight]] of 1.56 grams, although, confusingly, the penny coin by then weighed about 8 grains, and had never weighed as much as this 24 grains. The last silver pence for general circulation were minted during the reign of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] around 1660. Since then, they have only been coined for issue as [[Maundy money]], royal [[almsgiving|alms]] given to the elderly on [[Maundy Thursday]].

===United Kingdom===
{{main|Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|l1=Predecimal British penny|Halfpenny (British pre-decimal coin)|l2=Predecimal British halfpenny|Farthing (British coin)|l3=British farthing|Decimal Day|Penny (British decimal coin)|l5=British penny|Halfpenny (British decimal coin)|l6=British halfpenny}}
Throughout the 18th century, the British government did not mint pennies for general circulation and the [[bullion]] value of the existing silver pennies caused them to be withdrawn from circulation. Merchants and mining companies, such as [[Anglesey]]'s [[Parys Mountain|Parys Mining Co.]], began to issue their own [[conder token|copper tokens]] to fill the need for small change.{{sfnp|Selgin|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AAbe9PdbVaEC&pg=PR16 16]}} Finally, amid the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the government authorized [[Matthew Boulton]] to mint copper pennies and twopences at [[Soho Mint]] in [[Birmingham]] in 1797.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/coins/british-coinage/|title=British Coinage|contribution-url=http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/coins/british-coinage/old-denominations/penny/cartwheel-penny/index.html|contribution=The Cartwheel Penny and Twopence of 1797|publisher=Royal Mint Museum|access-date=15 May 2014}}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref> Typically, 1 lb. of copper produced 24 pennies. In 1860, the copper penny was replaced with a [[bronze]] one (95% copper, 4% [[tin]], 1% [[zinc]]). Each pound of bronze was coined into 48 pennies.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}}

===United States===
{{main|Penny (United States coin)}}
The United States' cent, popularly known as the "penny" since the early 19th century,<ref name=uscent /> began with the unpopular [[copper]] [[chain cent]] in 1793.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/|contribution-url=http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/index.cfm?action=timeline|contribution=Timeline|title=Historian's Corner|publisher=[[US Mint]]|location=[[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]|access-date=2011-01-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225085720/http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/|archive-date=2011-02-25|url-status=live}}.</ref> Abraham Lincoln was the first historical figure to appear on a U.S. coin when he was portrayed on the one-cent coin to commemorate his 100th birthday.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Penny History – Americans for Common Cents|url=http://www.pennies.org/index.php/penny-history|access-date=|website=}}</ref>

===South Africa===
The penny that was brought to the [[Cape Colony]] (in what is now [[South Africa]]) was a large coin—36&nbsp;mm in diameter, 3.3&nbsp;mm thick, and {{convert|1|oz|abbr=on}}—and the twopence was correspondingly larger at 41&nbsp;mm in diameter, 5&nbsp;mm thick and {{convert|2|oz|abbr=on}}. On them was [[Britannia]] with a [[trident]] in her hand. The English called this coin the [[History of the British penny (1714–1901)|Cartwheel penny]] due to its large size and raised rim,<ref>{{cite web|author=Severn Internet Services – www.severninternet.co.uk|url=http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1969N780|title=Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Information Centre|publisher=BMAGiC|access-date=2011-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221062923/http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1969N780|archive-date=2012-02-21|url-status=live}}</ref> but the [[Cape Town|Capetonians]] referred to it as the [[Devil]]'s Penny as they assumed that only the Devil used a trident.<ref name=samint>{{cite web|title=South African History of Coins|url=http://www.samint.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=66|access-date=2009-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128142836/http://www.samint.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=66|archive-date=2011-11-28|url-status=live}}</ref> The coins were very unpopular due to their large weight and size.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.currencyhelp.net/british-cartwheel-penny.html|title=Currencyhelp.net|publisher=Currencyhelp.net|access-date=2011-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530000040/http://www.currencyhelp.net/british-cartwheel-penny.html|archive-date=2008-05-30|url-status=live}}</ref> On 6 June 1825, [[Lord Charles Somerset]], the governor, issued a [[proclamation]] that only [[pound sterling|British Sterling]] would be [[legal tender]] in the [[Cape Colony]] (colonial [[South Africa]]). The new British coins (which were introduced in England in 1816), among them being the shilling, six-pence of silver, the penny, half-penny, and quarter-penny in copper, were introduced to the Cape. Later two-shilling, four-penny, and three-penny coins were added to the coinage. The size and [[denomination (currency)|denomination]] of the 1816 British coins, with the exception of the four-penny coins, were used in South Africa until 1960.<ref name=samint />