English hammered silver penny

The English hammered silver penny was a hand-struck coin of the Kingdom of England, traditionally bearing a royal bust and, on most issues, a cross on the reverse naming the moneyer and mint. Prior to the thirteenth century, the silver penny was virtually the only coin struck in England, and moneyers were permitted to cut it into halves and quarters to provide small change until the practice was banned in 1279. The denomination continued to be produced by hand for centuries until 1662, when the hammered series concluded permanently in favour of machine-milled coinage.

During the early seventeenth century, hammered pennies were struck at the Tower of London under James I, who retained production methods similar to those of Elizabeth. His first coinage featured a right-facing bust and a reverse shield incorporating the Scottish arms, while subsequent issues replaced the bust with a rose and featured a thistle on the reverse. Under Charles I, Tower-minted hammered pennies initially displayed a rose on both sides, later changing to a left-facing portrait with a Roman numeral I behind the head and an oval shield on the reverse. During the English Civil War, provincial mints such as Aberystwyth, Oxford, Bristol, and Exeter also struck hammered pennies, many featuring distinctive plumes on the reverse.

Under the Commonwealth of England, hammered pennies were produced completely without Latin inscriptions. These pieces showed St George's shield alongside an Irish shield beneath the denomination mark I on the obverse, paired with St George's shield within a wreath on the reverse. Following the Restoration in 1660, Charles II issued the final English hammered pennies until 1662 from dies prepared by Thomas Simon, featuring a left-facing bust with no denomination mark and a reverse displaying the royal shield superimposed on a cross.