Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Penny - Rosa Americana
| Issuer | William Wood (patentee, struck under royal patent granted by George I) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1722-1724 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of King George I facing right, rendered in high relief with finely detailed flowing hair and laurel wreath. The effigy occupies the central field, with the truncation of the bust visible at the lower edge. A toothed or beaded border frames the periphery of the coin. The surrounding legend reads GEORGIUS DEI GRATIA REX, interrupted by the portrait, distributed evenly around the circumference in bold Roman capitals. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
William Wood obtained his patent through the Duchess of Kendal — George I's mistress — who reportedly sold it to him for £10,000. The arrangement provoked immediate outrage in both Ireland, where Wood held a simultaneous copper coinage patent, and among American colonists suspicious of the brass alloy's actual value. Jonathan Swift's Drapier's Letters targeted the Irish coinage specifically, but the colonial issue drew its own share of legislative resistance from several assemblies.
The Rosa Americana series was never formally adopted as official colonial currency. Most reached circulation only sporadically, and significant quantities were returned to England unsold by 1724.