The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1886-01-05
ifisrcnY OF THE PENNY.
Interesting Facts Abnut the Hums
Bile Coin -sThe Old Copper Cent.

There ID much more in penny than
arpests 81 nrst sIEht, sEys &riter-iu On
English exchahge; Its msriuiacture, in
history, i's adventures might esch form
thesu5ject Of an srticie, or evsnxseriy1
OF articles; so with lis purchasing pbw.
er, which, to fsmishing person. might
be tnatitr Of u e and death. while, dns
der happier circnms' ances. what such 1
humble coin may commsnd IL we'll ilius.
tts,ed hs The paper which the resdrs
noW holds in his hand.
Then there are legends ana ershIefiis
which are upon The two sides az benz
ny. apdy-~ell, really opels sInest 5pz
palIed at the idcA u he,lipg wi,h fnch
vast subject il sihpfe article, wtich ID
all that csn he devoted 70 it at present.
The petnv ie really Of respectable sus
'iqaity. "Humbls G'in" indpedi Whyt
II birth and long descent we're things;
apart from olhet circumstances. 10 mska
one fe.l proud, then might the penny bd
the mos, naughty of CONS.
You recolect bov, in sacred his'ofyt
the lahorers 10 the vineysrd each receivs
ed d. she end tf his da,'s Aotk .sperx
my" Tor densfius, Representing nearly
leigbtpence halt-penny, which was tti6
regular pay
and yet very far remote from ours, We
dnd the penny the cnly coin generally
current among tho Anelo-Saxohes II
was eilver Eoib; the l30th part Of thu
libra or bohnd. 81 g
| For long. long yesfs the penhb ess
indebted deeply with a cross mark, so
that 1t could easily be broken into two OF
four pieces, hence We get 'shalf-penuy"
and "farthins," or "four-i hing" But "a
the ear 1910 round fsrtbings we're coins
ed, and about 10 years later large num-
hers Of circulas coins we're struck by Els
ward l., who Introduced many improve.
ments In connection therewi b and made
importation Of false money . h,inous
crime
The S-st !egslcopper coinaee, II seeds,
was established by Charles H., and talf.
pence and far,hings we're struck. .'e
/ Between 1877 and 1905 The c.lehtssed
Natthes Boulton. OF Soho. reat Birs
ming coined fof Tie British Govern.
ment at mint he had fitted up Tot tpS
purpose no lees than 4 900 tons OF c0p
per coin. amounting at lis nominal cur.
rent value to nearly ES0O00 That
mint continued 10 operation do wn to halt
q century ago -
There is mint : new buil.iine at
Birriitiahsrb still. and that busy town
claims the hoH5f. Nth london, OF mars
nfacturing money. Tbese are The OILY
coinage establishments in England. =,
The old copper penny was clursler
hut more valuable coin han the mod
ern hror srepresentativ is, It Wss
worth more as regards its metal; bet NJ
courae you could only ge. penny worth
OF anything for penny then. Some
few Of the old 'csrtwheel' pennies still
remain, but only a. curiosities.
The bronze coinage we now use cane
Into existence in 1850, an lin six vests,
at Messrs. ] mes Watt 4 Co g mint 1t
Birmingham, brorz. and copper coin>
u Tor they made them Cor ether countries
beside E,e'and) we're produced. weigh
ing 43l74 tone and numbering more
than 606 ,UU0 600 picc,s. o. some occa-
siots as msnv as 0n0 COZ pieces havs
hesn made and packed in cus dap. Tho
birmingham m mt nos belongs To
Messrs Heston & Co.. whose initial H
nav be found on some OF the brons4
coins. Brorze, it may he s'a'ei. CON-
tains 05 per cent Of copper, OF tin and
| OF zinc