WEIGHT OF COINS

[numismatist]

Never took much notice, but 10 old farthings weigh 1 ounce

and 5 old half pennies weigh 1 ounce

BUT 3 old pennies weigh 1 ounce

All the old silver coins mulitiply up as expected

Why is the PENNY the odd man out ??

I never knew this !!

[Rob]

No idea, but maybe they thought the size was large enough. As it was token coinage anyway, there would be no obligation to make them pro-rata. Maybe it was a practical reason from a striking sense.

A heavier coin would have to be either larger diameter or thicker, which would put it close to that of the superseded copper pennies in one dimension or the other (haven't done the sums, but it seems close).

[numismatist]

Thanks Rob, Ive never noticed after 50 years into Coins, but found out when I weighed

a silver colour penny that I was hoping was not plated ! , then found it was far lighter

than 2 old halfpennies , so I googled weights....

[Mr T]

I had never noticed this either but I read about it in one of Michael Gouby's books recently. I don't think the reason was given but the point he made was that pennies with the weight you'd expect were definitely tested (the so-called heavy flan pennies mentioned in Freeman) at some point to overcome whatever minting issues they were having at the time.

[copper123]

Might have something to do with the penny being the main coin that went in old slot machines and vending machines prior to 1960