Skip to main content

The One Third Farthing

 


The Third Farthing

The first of the fractional farthings to be issued was the third farthing, which throughout the period of issue from 1827 to 1913 was minted solely for use in Malta. The island used British coins, but the Grano, dating from before British rule, was valued at a twelfth of a penny. As a result, the decision was made to coin the equivalent in a British denomination.

The Copper Third Farthing

The design of the copper half farthings for George IV, William IV, and Victoria shows a standard portrait on the obverse, while the reverse shows Britannia facing right seated with a shield and trident.

They weigh about 1.57g and have a diameter of 16mm.

The 1844 copper third farthing of Victoria comes in two varieties. A few rare versions have RE rather than REG on the reverse.

The Bronze Third Farthing

In common with the other larger denominations, a switch to bronze was made in 1860. The reverse design was changed to show the inscription ONE THIRD FARTHING with the date below, surrounded by a laurel wreath with crown above.

The obverse has a portrait of the Queen quite unlike that on any other UK coin.

These small coins weigh about 0.9g and have a diameter of 15mm and are thus the lightest bronze coins in the British series.

None of the bronze coins are scarce, and those issued by Edward VII in 1902 and George V in 1913 used to be reasonably often found in mint state.







Labels:
Location: Exeter, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Half Farthing

The Half Farthing This was issued a year later than the third farthing for use exclusively in Ceylon. However, in 1842 it was made legal tender in the UK despite much criticism for being far too small a denomination.  The series lasted until 1869 when the coin was demonetized, the last date issued for circulation being 1856. They were generally treated as curiosities, and weigh about 2.4g with a diameter of 18mm. All are copper except for the 1868 proofs. The design of the half farthings for George IV and William IV show a standard portrait on the obverse, while the reverse shows Britannia facing right seated with a shield and trident. Those issued by Victoria have a reverse which reads HALF FARTHING with a crown above and the date below. Below that there was a rose with three leaves for the issue of 1839, which was changed to a rose, thistle and shamrock thereafter, when the coin became valid throughout the UK. The obverse for the Victorian coins is identical to that of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A picture by Anna Haller

  Anna Haller was born in 1872 and was the 2nd of four children of Rudolf Haller and Anna née Gloor.  Two siblings died early. When Anna was 4 years old, her father died. In 1878 her mother married Adolf Weber from Menziken in Rupperswil. She had four more children, and i n 1883 the family settled in Biel.  Anna did an apprenticeship from 1889 to 1898 in a studio for watch shell decoration, where she learned Damascus (surface treatment of metal, exchange, etching) and gold and silver decoration on steel. At the same time, she visited the arts and crafts department of the Technikum Biel.  Under  Ferdinand Hüttenlocher, she  was   a graduate  in the specialist class of the general drawing and modelling school  of the Technikum Biel. After training in leather technology with Georg Hulbe in Hamburg in 1898, she became the first lecturer in Biel. From  1899 to 1907 she taught four hours on Saturdays.  As an employee of Albert Renggli's s...
Post a Comment
Read more