Allied Powers

It is strange but true; the Royal Mint did not strike a lot of the bronze coins that were issued in this country. In fact, at one point they were using two private mints to strike coins for them. The Heaton Mint which has a mintmark ‘H’ as on this coin and the Kings Norton Mint which used a ‘KN’ mintmark. Interestingly enough, both private mints have gone out of business. This Penny is dated 1918, which was during World War I and we guess the Royal Mint had too many other things on its plate. The mintmark is below Britannia to the left of the date. The coins on offer are in Fine condition and are rather difficult to find these days. The Royal Mint didn’t strike this 1918 Penny but the Mint Birmingham Ltd did. Why not add one to your collection?

1918 Kings Norton Penny in Fine. In the reign of King George V the Royal Mint ran out of capacity to strike enough coins for everyday usage, so they contracted out the minting of some Pennies. One of the two Mints they used was the Kings Norton Mint, unlike the Birmingham Mint, the Kings Norton Mint had never struck coins for them before. They only made pennies for the Mint in 1918 and 1919 and all of these coins carry the ‘KN’ mint mark by the left of the date. Of the two mints, the Kings Norton is by far the most difficult to get.