Penny For Your Thoughts

I've always been interested in days gone by...world history, American history, South Carolina history...my own history. I'm especially interested in those points where the paths of each intersect. 

One of my favorite fantasies is time travel. To do this, I listen to old songs, flip open a bottle of Coppertone suntan lotion, study the way the sunlight scatters across the blue sky, and reflects off a field of grass, or wonder over wee bits of history that have survived the passage of time. One of my latest time travel attempts has involved the latter. 

Ever since visiting the UK back in 2018, and following my DNA results from Ancestry, I've had a growing desire to connect, or reconnect, as much as possible to the land of my forefathers. I've done this in many ways, but one of my more tangible pursuits has been the searching for, and collecting of, a representative farthing, halfpenny, or penny bearing the likenesses of Queen Elizabeth II all the way back to 1674 during the reign of Charles II. The reigns of monarchs seem to be an excellent way to organize, and file away in my mind the events and time passages that make a people who they are. Holding the coins in my hand connects me in such a very real and tactile way to a bygone time and people. Though those days and lives have long faded away, they still matter to me, and I can share with them a relic that provided for a small want or need during their time. 

Obviously, such an endeavor can get very expensive very quickly, but I chose to go about my pursuit in a more practical, and a bit more frugal fashion. I'm not so much interested in the investment side of numismatics. I don't need a proof, or uncirculated graded coin. I prefer the legible, but well circulated survivor. I don't really like a coin in a plastic container, but rather one that I can hold in my hand. The small collection shown in the pic above is such a grouping. The following are a select few coins from this collection, and I will share just what kind of thoughts they evoke. 

1674 Charles II Farthing

1674 Charles II farthing: The coin bears the likeness of the namesake of Charlestown, AKA, Charleston, SC, founded just four years before this coin was minted. Its original value was just a fourth of a penny. "Penny," by the way has been used in the States for years, but it is only a slang term for our cent. We don't have pennies...never did! The term is just another carry over here from our days as English colonists over than two and a half centuries ago. Charles II was named for his father, Charles I who was executed in 1649. North and South Carolina owe their names to the Latin derivative of Charles I. When this coin entered into circulation, the grand houses and porticos of Charleston had yet to appear, and the iconic cobblestone streets had yet to be laid. A small fortification, a few farming plots, and brick dwellings at Albemarle Point by the Ashley River were only starting to become the promise of the place, relocated a few miles down river some six years later, that I visit so often and love so much today. Meanwhile, back in England someone carried this coin, with the purchasing power greater than a dollar today, in their pocket until trading it for lunch or a pint, and finding yet another pocket, and so on until it eventually found my own.

1694 William & Mary 

1694 William and Mary halfpenny: William III and Mary II are from what I gather a bit of a royal enigma. Mary, second in line and William fourth, as the double profiles on the coin implies, shared the throne. Mary died of small pox at the age of 32 in the year this coin was minted. After her passing, William III assumed solitary reign until his death following a riding accident in 1702.  His sister-in-law, Anne became queen, and must've made pennies scarce by royal decree because I can't find one...at least at a reasonable price!

1724 George I

1724 George I halfpenny: The British King who couldn't speak English. From Hanover Germany, this aristocrat had the distinction of being the second cousin of Queen Anne. Times were hard, and finding a Protestant successor was no easy task apparently. George never bothered to learn English, and it was during his reign that the traditional powers of the monarchy began to diminish to resemble a more constitutional style of government that we see today. He died while visiting his homeland of Germany, and is the last British monarch to be buried outside of Great Britian.

1754 George II

1754 George II farthing: This coin bears the likeness of the namesake of the state of Georgia, and our own beloved George Washington. Ironically, Washington shares that distinction with his top adversary a few decades later, George III. Born in Germany, George II is the last British monarch to be born outside of Great Britain. In addition to Georgia, we also have Georgetown up the road, and the University and historic neighborhood in D.C. where I've had lunch, and explored while stationed nearby during my Air Force time. I could make this a much longer blog I'm sure if I were to name every place in the US that can be traced, at least in name, back to this Hanover born king. I find it fascinating how a series of events can elevate a fortunate man's name to carry on for centuries in ways no one could ever have imagined. From Georgia, to George Washington, and now my little collection, his name resounds far beyond his efforts and years.

1799 George III

1799 George III halfpenny: This was one of the first British coins I searched for simply because of his eternal place in American history. "Mad King George" is how I was introduced this king. Afterall, had he been a bit more adept at managing his colonies, I might seem more the son of England than I appear today. The year was also significant to me as it marks the year that we lost our own George Washington. George III would live another 21 years after the minting of this coin, but the coin's carriers would know this land as a former colony now called the United States of America. The citizens of this new land wouldn't have nearly as much use for this coin as they would've in times just a few years earlier.

1831 William IV

The remaining coins include an 1826 George IV penny, 1831 William IV halfpenny (The last Hanover King), a 1900 Queen Victoria penny, 1906 Edward VII penny, 1921 George V penny,  1937 George VI penny, 1966 Elizabeth II Penny, which is the only coin in this collection from my time since I was born that very year. My mother's name happens to also be Elizabeth...not sure if she was named for the then, at the time of her birth, yet to be coronated queen of England.

In addition to the coins that bear the faces of monarchs, the back row of my collection is made up of what has become known as Conder tokens. The late 1780s through the early 1800s, were marked by a significant shortage of small denomination coins. As a result, different areas around Great Britain minted their own solution in the form of tokens. The tokens now are a legacy to the regional pride that existed in those times. I went through and sought out a few of these for personal reasons, but I will happily share those now.

1797 Staffordshire halfpenny: I love the little castle tower on the token, but the must have element of this coin for me is the name Stafford shown above the tower. It is a family name on my paternal grandmother's side. I haven't been able to trace that line out of South Carolina, but I imagine they probably heralded from a place such as this, if not specifically here. I look at that name, and wonder if that's not my own hometown...at least in part.

1792 London and Middlesex Shakespeare halfpenny: One of our stops a few years back was in the Bard's town of Stratford upon Avon. We had Champagne and scones in the childhood schoolhouse of Shakespeare, and walked the ancient streets, and alongside the lovely banks of the Avon. When I saw the coin, I sat and wondered on how the people of that time had already come to realize the greatness of this one of their own from two centuries before. I think they'd be happy to know how his legend lives on. My daughter, Kristin, bought a little bust of Shakespeare to remember the visit by, but I didn't really pick up a souvenir that day. This coin serves as that for me now...a souvenir and testament to the enduring contribution he has made to the many generations that came after him.

1791 Lancashire-Liverpool halfpenny: The first thing to catch my eye is the very striking sailing boat image on one side, but the selling point for me is the intersection of different paths. Anyone who knows me knows how much music means to me. As such, the very mention of Liverpool always brings one thing to mind...fish and chips. Just kidding, the Beatles of course. This coin was minted in a time when the very idea of the Beatles would have been unimaginable even to the people of Liverpool. It was a coastal town with fishing and seafaring as its central focus, but that too was the backdrop for a group that would have executed the kind of successful invasion of America that would have most certainly been the envy of George III.

1794 Canterbury halfpenny: One of the trips we took while over there was to Canterbury Cathedral. The cathedral was amazing, the town was lovely too. When I saw the coin, it evoked a very similar feeling I had when studying the Shakespeare coin. Of course, the Cathedral, and even the dark history it possesses, has been a source of pride for centuries. For me, it's another souvenir that I didn't get while I was there. 

1794 Suffolk Bury Cornwallis Penny: I saved one of the most fascinating coins for last. Charles Marquis Cornwallis, better known as General Cornwallis or Lord Cornwallis from my history studies is shown here as the pride of his town. I've been to Capitulation Field at Yorktown Battlefield, and various places here in SC where he had some successes and failures including one attempt to take Sullivan's Island by crossing over from Long Island which is known today as the Isle of Palms. The failed attempt doesn't get much mention in Cornwallis's writings, and it's understandable why. The thing that occurred to me while holding the coin is that both he and Washington were still alive at the pressing of this coin. I imagine he spent the rest of his days dogged by those historic moments in time at Yorktown and the Carolinas, but he will now be remembered in my collection in a place I'm sure he would have preferred to forget.