Description

1797 George III British Copper Penny Coin

A very nice coin with excellent detail.

Diameter: 35 mm, Weight: 28g, Material: Copper.

the cartwheel penny was designed to combat counterfeiting.
1797 George III British Copper Penny Coin
A very nice coin, 1797 PENNY GEORGE III with excellent detail.

Diameter: 35 mm, Weight: 28g, Material: Copper.

The first copper penny to be circulated in Britain, the

cartwheel penny was designed to combat counterfeiting.

Designed to weigh its exact value in copper, (one ounce),

the 1797 penny was very large.

The 1797 British penny obverse features the robed

laureate bust of King George III facing right. The legend

reads: ‘GEORGIUS III-D:G-REX.’

The reverse shows Britannia seated facing left, holding an

olive branch and a trident with a shield resting beside, with

a ship in the distance. The legend reads ‘BRITANNIA.’

above, with the date below.

1797 British Penny Specifications
Monarch George III (1760 – 1820)
Edge plain
Weight 28.3 g
Diameter 36 mm
Composition copper
Minted Soho, Handsworth, England
Mintage approx. 8,601,600 (inc varieties)
Scarcity semi-scarce


1797 British Penny Design
Obverse Conrad Kuchler
Reverse Conrad Kuchler
1797 PENNY GEORGE III
The first base metal regal pennies to circulate in Britain,

these pieces were produced by Matthew Bouton using a steam powered press at the Soho mint in Birmingham in 1797.

From 1770 until the end of the 18th century the practice of melting down the official copper coins

and making lightweight forgeries had become so widespread

that it prompted industrialist Matthew Boulton to offer a potential solution.

He proposed that each coin should actually be made to contain its value in copper (one ounce avoirdupois),

that the quality should be improved by using a retaining collar during striking (to give a perfectly round coin)

and by designing the coins with thick raised borders to prevent them wearing so easily.

This type was struck in copper by Boulton for several years after 1797 with no change in date

, along with some later strikes in a variety of metals.

Further restrikes were produced by W.J. Taylor when he bought the dies in 1848;

the chief way these later issues can be distinguished is by marks resulting from die corrosion.

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