George III 1760 - 1820

In 1816, during the end of the reign of King George III, all the old coinage was replaced with new coins and new designs. The Halfcrown was first issued in 1816-1817 but the King hated how they had portrayed him on the coin. So later in 1817 they changed the design to the new smaller head halfcrown. This design lasted only until 1820 when the King died and George IV came to the throne and all the designs changed. The Half Crown is the second largest silver denomination issued, it had a face value of Two Shillings and Sixpence. They were struck in Sterling Silver, dates will be of our choice, but the more you order the more different dates we will try and give you. We have the small head George III Halfcrown available in Very Good and Fine condition, the choice is yours.

In 1816 they passed the currency Reform Act which changed our coinage completely. The Guinea was out and the Sovereign was in. All coins before then were no longer legal tender. One coin that was badly needed for everyday usage was the humble sixpence. So in 1816, a new Sixpence was issued. The King hated the design and the public referred to it as the ‘Bull Head’ Sixpence because of the design. But it was only struck from 1816-1820 when a new King took the throne. Dates will be of our choice, but the more coins you order the more different dates we will try and give you.

These George III Sterling Silver 1787 Sixpences were only struck for circulation for just one year, 1787. What is even more interesting is that they were struck for the Bank of England to give out to their favoured clients around Christmas. You have King George III in an armoured bust on the obverse and four crowns and four shields on the reverse. Today the Royal Mint is charging £95 in Fine. The reverse in some ways is even more interesting than the obverse. As you have the arms of England, Ireland, Scotland, Hanover and France. The coins on offer are very high grade and becoming very difficult to find these days. They are available in Extremely Fine. Remember that this coin is now over 230 years old and in very high quality.

Most will know about the illness of King George III, but most don’t know that because of that illness the King would not allow a law to make smaller coins to be passed. This of course caused a lot of problems with day-to-day commerce; there just were not enough small coins around to make change. There are only two silver coins struck before the Currency Reform Act of 1816, that are readily available to collectors: the George III Sixpence and the Shilling of 1787. There is a simple but almost unbelievable reason for this. These coins were struck at the Royal Mint from silver delivered from the Bank of England. The Bank decided that they would need some new shiny coins to give out to their clients at Christmas. So only the Bank of England had these silver coins, and they only handed them out during the Christmas period, and only to their wealthy clients. So now you have the whole history! You have King George III dressed in what looks like Roman armour, and on the reverse the arms of Hanover and France as well as England, Scotland, and Ireland. Back in 1787, you had to be somehow important to have one of these Sixpences, important enough to do business directly with the Bank of England, and someone they wanted to treat. We have selected some very high-quality examples of this beautiful and very important historical coin for your collection.