Two pence (British pre-decimal coin)
| United Kingdom | |
| Value | 1⁄120 pound sterling |
|---|---|
| Mass | 56.7 g (2 oz) |
| Diameter | 41 mm (1.6 in) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Composition | Copper |
| Years of minting | 1797 |
| Mint marks | SOHO, below and to the right of Britannia. |
| Obverse | |
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| Design | Profile of George III |
| Designer | Conrad Heinrich Küchler |
| Design date | 1797 |
| Reverse | |
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| Design | Britannia |
| Designer | Conrad Heinrich Küchler |
| Design date | 1797 |
The pre-decimal twopence (2d) was a coin worth one one-hundred-and-twentieth of a pound sterling, or two pence. It was a short lived denomination, only being minted in 1797 by Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint.
Before Decimal Day in 1971, two hundred and forty pence equaled one pound sterling. Twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Values less than a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, e.g. forty-two pence would be three shillings and six pence (3/6), pronounced "three and six". Values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence, e.g. eight pence would be 8d.
These coins were made legal tender for amounts of up to one shilling by a proclamation of 26 July 1797. They were later made redundant in 1860 with the advent of bronze coinage.
The minting of silver pennies for general circulation was halted in 1660 by the British government because the cost of silver had become too high. By the late 1700s this policy had caused a deficiency in the number of circulating pennies, and many merchants and mining companies had taken to issuing their own copper tokens. For example, the Parys Mining Company on Anglesey issued huge numbers of tokens (although their acceptability was strictly limited).
To alleviate this coin shortage, in 1797, the government authorised Matthew Boulton to strike copper pennies and twopences at his Soho Mint, in Birmingham. It was believed that the face value of a coin should correspond to the value of the material it was made from, so each coin was made from two pence worth of copper (2 ounces). This requirement means that the coins are significantly larger than the silver pennies minted previously. The large size of the coins, combined with the thick rim where the inscription was punched into the metal, led to the coins being nicknamed "cartwheels". All "cartwheel" twopences are marked with the date 1797. In total, around 720,000 twopences were minted.
By 1802, the production of privately issued provincial tokens had ceased. However, in the next ten years the intrinsic value of copper rose. The return of privately minted token coinage was evident by 1811 and endemic by 1812, as more and more of the Government issued copper coinage was melted down for trade. The Royal Mint undertook a massive recoinage programme in 1816, with large quantities of gold and silver coin being minted. To thwart the further issuance of private token coinage, in 1817 an act of parliament was passed which forbade the manufacture of private token coinage under very severe penalties.
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