Farthing (English coin)
A farthing (derived from the Anglo-Saxon feorthing, a fourthling or fourth part) was a coin of the Kingdom of England worth one quarter of a penny, 1⁄960 of a pound sterling. Such coins were first minted in England in silver in the 13th century, and continued to be used until the Kingdom of England was merged into the new Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.
Early farthings were silver, but surviving examples are rare. The first copper farthings were issued during the reign of King James I, who gave a licence for minting them to John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton. Licences were subsequently given out until after the Commonwealth, when the Royal Mint resumed production in 1672. In the late 17th century the English farthing was also minted in tin.
For later farthings, minted in the 18th century and for use in Scotland as well as in England and Wales, and in the 19th and 20th centuries for use in Great Britain and Ireland, see Farthing (British coin).
Little is known of the medieval silver farthing, for few remain. As the smallest denomination, it was rarely hoarded – silver farthings have never been found in large hoards – and as it contained a quarter-penny's worth of silver it was also extremely small, and therefore easily lost. Besides, farthings were not produced in anything like the quantities of the penny and halfpenny because, although they were useful to ordinary people, they were not so much used by the wealthy and powerful; and because, for the moneyers, they yielded the least profit of any denomination. Furthermore, the coins are so small that few metal detectors can find them. Consequently they are today.
...
Wikipedia