1838 Great Britain Half Penny PCGS MS64RB

Long ago the area now known as Great Britain was a part of the Roman Empire. The Roman "denarius" was a coin well known to traders at the time. After the decline of the Roman Empire as the monetary system of Europe developed, a new coin was modeled on the denarius. A value of 1/240th part of a pound was established for this new denarius. Minor modifications to weight took place to accomodate the various systems of measurement, but ultimately a penny of England was minted based on this 1/240th of a pound. To this day, numismatists commonly refer to pennies and other fractions of a shilling (prior to decimalization) as denarius or "D". Hence, the identification of this coin on the PCGS insert as "1/2D". 

1838 is the first year of regular issue for coins of Great Britain depicting Victoria and coins such as this 1838 half penny depict William Wyon's initial "Young Head" design. 

This 1838 1/2D has pleasing red brown surfaces.

Plain Edge

Composition: Copper

PCGS MS64RB

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