British Fractional Farthings or amazingly small denominations for the colonies

Great Britain used to mint fractions of farthings for British colonies to emulate local denominations.

A farthing was 1/4 of a British penny or 1/960 of a British pound

At the time these were minted a British pound was worth around United States $5 making the farthing worth about 1/2 of a cent.

We have here coins worth 1/4 of a US cent and 1/6 of a US cent.
It is amazing that there were things which could bought for such small amounts then.

Here are four fractional farthings:


Great Britain fractional farthing - 1/2 farthing 1844
Queen Victoria facing left
Crown, HALF FARTHING
Copper, 18 mm, 2.4 gm


Great Britain fractional farthing - 1/3 farthing 1868
Queen Victoria facing left
Crown and wreath, ONE THIRD FARTHING
Bronze, 15 mm, 0.9 gm


Great Britain fractional farthing - 1/3 farthing 1902
King Edward VII facing right
Crown and wreath, ONE THIRD FARTHING
Bronze, 15 mm, 0.9 gm


Great Britain fractional farthing - 1/3 farthing 1913
King George V facing left
Crown and wreath, ONE THIRD FARTHING
Bronze, 15 mm, 0.9 gm

Here are all four fractional farthings with a United States dime:


The 1/2 farthings were minted for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to emulate the local duit or (British) India pie.
A pie was 1/12 anna or 1/192 India rupee; a rupee was worth about 48 US cents then.

The 1/3 farthings were minted for Malta to emulate the local grano.

There were also 1/4 farthings for the big spenders.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

My, oh my, how the value of the pound has fallen...

 

@willieboyd2 - Great to see your fractional farthings. Thanks for sharing. I relish these myself as I collect the British Colonial coins.

Considering the low economic purchasing power of many of the population in the colonies, I suspect there was a needed use for such low denomination coins. I recall the quarter-farthing (1/16th of a penny) being the lowest denomination ever minted of the pound sterling series.

 

I know it’s not an exact parallel. But one way of looking at it is that a British pound today has roughly $400 of gold in it - so 1/960th of a pound (a farthing) would be almost 42 cents!
Wikipedia says a farthing in the 1800s could buy a sparrow or 3 oysters with bread and butter - which isn’t bad for 42 cents... this would make today’s penny absolutely worthless in front of that farthing!

 

There was a British film made in the 1950's called "A Kid for Two Farthings". (A kid was a baby goat)