During medieval times the silver penny was the smallest readily available coin,
and so was cut into halves and quarters to create smaller denominations.
Was this a purely British phenomenon or was it carried out else where?
Henry 111 Voided Long Cross [class v] ROBERT monyer
John Short cross [class 5b2] Lincoln mint
Richard-John short cross [class 4] London
Regards
Gordon
Collect what you like and like what you collect.
Remember you are only the custodian of you collection, its only yours for your lifetime.
The same happened in medieval Hungary and neighboring countries under Hungarian influence, I don't have any photos available but cutting medieval silver denars in half was common during transactions.
I'm guessing the same happened in other medieval countries too.
I collect and deal in ancient Roman coin. In case you're looking for affordable ancient coins or need any help with the coins you already have send me a message.
Quote: "Idolenz"
Here are two from your giveaway
Yes, these are 2 Hungarian denars cut in half, I can't guarantee they were cut in half in transactions but they were found like this and cutting was common at the time so that's most likely the case.
I collect and deal in ancient Roman coin. In case you're looking for affordable ancient coins or need any help with the coins you already have send me a message.
Not sure any of them are cut halves. The piece left is not close enough to half the coin to have been used as a half denomination in change. The value of the 2 pieces would have been too variable.
Gordon
Collect what you like and like what you collect.
Remember you are only the custodian of you collection, its only yours for your lifetime.
Quote: "turntostone"Not sure any of them are cut halves. The piece left is not close enough to half the coin to have been used as a half denomination in change. The value of the 2 pieces would have been too variable.
Gordon
The two Hungarian denar halfs in the third row from the first picture were found while metal detecting in that state along with other, uncut, coins. Their other halfs were no where to be found so in my opinion the damage was done a long time ago and they were, most likely, cut in half during transactions.
Quote: "MonaSeaclaid"Am I weird for having always wanted one of these cut coins? I hate coin destruction but love the story behind these.
Not at all, I know a lot of people that have these in their collection for that exact reason.
I collect and deal in ancient Roman coin. In case you're looking for affordable ancient coins or need any help with the coins you already have send me a message.
At least the British and Irish were accommodating, to give you nice straight guidelines on the reverse.
Some enterprising people were able to get five "quarters" from an 8 reales!
The very thin ones you could break by hand, bending it over and over maybe with the help of a small initial cut. Bigger ones were probably cut like hacksilver with a bigger knife or cleaver.
