Gold penny
The gold penny was a medieval English coin with a value of twenty pence, minted in 1257 during the reign of Henry III. The coin was short-lived as it quickly became undervalued, which led to its almost complete disappearance; only 8 examples are known to exist to this day.
History
Need for higher value coins
Until the reign of King Henry III of England, any need in England for coins worth more than one penny, at the time a silver coin, was met by the use of Byzantine or Arabic gold and silver coins which circulated among merchants and traders. However, as commerce increased, so did the need for higher value coins. In 1257, Henry instructed his goldsmith, William of Gloucester, to produce a coinage of pure gold.Introduction and use
The gold penny was introduced, with a value of twenty pence. The coin's obverse showed the king enthroned, in his royal attire, with a sceptre in his right hand and a globus cruciger in his left, with the legend HENRICUS REX III. The reverse contained a long cross extending to the edge, with a flower in each quarter, and the Moneyer's name in the legend, thus WILLEM ON LVND. Some examples read LVNDEN or LVNDE instead of LVND.The gold penny was not popular. Thomas Carte, in his A general history of England, says that the citizens of London made a representation against them on 24 November 1257, and that "the King was so willing to oblige them, that he published a proclamation, declaring that nobody was obliged to take it, and whoever did, might bring it to his exchange, and receive there the value at which it had been made current, one halfpenny only being deducted from each, most probably for the expense of coinages".