Henry III or Edward I Penny

Henry III or Edward I Penny

This months ID is a penny from the reign of Henry III. It is often referred to as a Voided Long Cross penny, because of the void in between the lines of the cross. This particular coinage was brought in by Henry in 1247 to replace the failing Short Cross coinage.

So how do we know it is likely to be a Henry III or Edward I penny? The huge giveaway here is the Voided Long Cross. The coinage with this type of reverse was only issued in the reign of Henry III, and the very early part of Edward I. But to confirm the exact  monarch, moneyer  and mint, the coin needs to be examined more closely.

Firstly we will look at the reverse. Might sound a bit back to front, but it will tell us the Moneyer and Mint, and this will help us confirm the Class, when the obverse is looked at more closely. If we read around the cross, which splits the legend into four parts, we can see the letters REN/AVD/ONL/VND. This refers to the Moneyer  Renavd of London – which has been abbreviated to LVND. A quick look in one of my many reference books advise that Renavd only minted coins at London for Class Vh to Class VII.

So we have a rough idea about the ID of the coin, but now we need to check the class which we know is between Vh and VII. At this stage it is time to look at the distinguishing features of Classes Vh, VI and VII.  Well the clear giveaway here is the hair curls. Class V was the last time the coinage displayed unrealistic curls. Class VI and class VII had more realistic hair to each side of the face.

 So we are now pretty sure we are dealing with a Class Vh coin, but we can confirm this further by examining the crown. The design of this crown was quite different to the others, in that the central fleur was made up from three pellets set in a triangle.

So there we have it. A Henry III, Class Vh, Penny. Moneyer  Renavd of London.

Copyright Steve Rice 2012