Editing Coins of the pound sterling (section)

===The penny before 1500===
{{See also|Penny (English coin)|Scottish coinage}}

The English silver penny first appeared in the 8th century CE in adoption of Western Europe's [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] monetary system wherein 12 pence made a shilling and 20 shillings made a pound. The weight of the English penny was fixed at {{frac|22|1|2}} troy grains (about 1.46&nbsp;grams) by [[Offa of Mercia]], an 8th-century contemporary of [[Charlemagne]]; 240 pennies weighed 5,400 grains or a [[tower pound]] (different from the [[troy pound]] of 5,760 grains). The silver penny was the only coin minted for 500 years, from c. 780 to 1280.

From the time of [[Charlemagne]] until the 12th century, the silver currency of England was made from the highest purity silver available. But there were disadvantages to minting currency of [[fine silver]], notably the level of wear it suffered, and the ease with which coins could be "[[Coin clipping|clipped]]", or trimmed. In 1158 a new standard for English coinage was established by [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] with the "[[Tealby Hoard|Tealby Penny]]" – the [[sterling silver]] standard of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. This was a harder-wearing alloy, yet it was still a rather high grade of silver. It went some way towards discouraging the practice of "clipping", though this practice was further discouraged and largely eliminated with the introduction of the milled edge seen on coins today.

The weight of a silver penny stayed constant at above 22 grains until 1344; afterwards its weight was reduced to 18 grains in 1351, to 15 grains in 1412, to 12 grains in 1464, and to 10{{frac|2}} grains in 1527.

The history of the [[Royal Mint]] stretches back to AD 886.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.gov.uk/|title=Coins – Collector Gold & Silver Coins & Limited Edition Gifts|work=The Royal Mint|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050210013005/http://www.royalmint.gov.uk/|archive-date=10 February 2005}}</ref> For many centuries production was in London, initially at the [[Tower of London]], and then at premises nearby in [[Tower Hill]] in what is today known as [[Royal Mint Court]]. In the 1970s production was transferred to [[Llantrisant]] in South Wales.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/History/TheRoyalMint/llantrisant.aspx|title=Llantrisant|publisher=[[Royal Mint]]|year=2012|access-date=28 January 2012|quote=In April 1967 it was announced that the new Royal Mint would be built at Llantrisant in South Wales.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116074713/http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/History/TheRoyalMint/llantrisant.aspx|archive-date=16 November 2011}}</ref> Historically Scotland and England had separate coinage; the last [[Scottish coinage|Scottish coins]] were struck in 1709 shortly after [[Acts of Union 1707|union with England]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-190-000-917-C|title=National Museums of Scotland – Balance and scales (detail)|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409172028/http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-190-000-917-C|archive-date=9 April 2009}}</ref>