I think that one reason for the poor condition of halfpennies in circulation during the 1960's might be the popularity during the nineteenth and first-half of the twentieth centuries of the pub game ‘shove ha’penny’ and as-a-result many halfpennies became very worn both out of being used on the boards and from being polished by the players. The favoured side to slide on the board would be the smoothest, so once a particular halfpenny started to get smooth on one side it would continue to be used on that side – hence the cause of so many coins being worn completely flat on just one side. In addition, in some parts of the country instead of wood, ‘boards’ could be of stone or slate which would have increased the wear on the coins.
However, getting to the subject of this thread, I’m going to cheat a wee bit and say the oldest coin I ever received in change was a seventeenth century hammered brass token – about the size of a sixpence but a lot thinner. I’ll explain…
When I was a young teenager in the Cotswolds during the early sixties, I had a paper-round in my home village of Bourton-on-the-Water. One Friday (it was money-collection day) one of the customers (a very old, local lady) was short of a sixpence to pay me so she asked me if I would accept the token instead since it was the same size as a sixpence - this was old-lady and Cotswold-logic combined! By that time, I was already a keen numismatist and this wonderful brass token was like treasure to me so this was a very good deal because Friday was also my payday, when I would receive my weekly ten shillings.
The token as far as I remember was dated in the 1660’s and was in the name ‘CHAS LVMLEY’ on the other side it had ‘BVRTON’ ON WATER – i.e. Bourton. Unfortunately, a couple of years later I had my wallet stolen which contained the token, but while it lasted it was a wonderful possession!
Going back to the paper-round – it was 1962-63, and counting the money on a Friday evening always gave me the opportunity to sort through the cash and then get paid in selected coins I had picked out – lots of bun and old-head pennies as well as George V ‘H’ and ‘KN’ pennies – they were frequent finds. Of course, the best value in the process was the pre-1920 silver although by that time it was predominantly Geo V – it was seldom that I found any silver from Edward or Victoria although it did happen on a few occasions – the best was an 1899 old head shilling but never anything from William IV or Geo IV.
However, discounting my 1660’s token, the oldest coin I ever received in change was a Geo III ‘bull head’ shilling – 1820 – which I still have, as well as my old-head shilling. I often ponder that at that time and earlier, coins were much more likely to remain in the same local areas – particularly rural areas, because of the lower frequency of travel. Obviously since, throughout the second half of the twentieth century, that has entirely changed as our communities have opened up and transport has made our small country tiny.
Such was the excitement then in the latter days of pre-decimal, because copper and silver in circulation had been the same size since 1860 and 1816 respectively, so there was always a fair chance of finding something really interesting. In my opinion, no comparable excitement exists today.
Hope you found this interesting.