The gold penny was the issue introduced, with a value of twenty pence, with the obverse showing the king enthroned, with the legend (King Henry III), while the reverse contained a long cross extending to the edge, with a flower in each quarter, and the moneyer's name in the legend, thus (William of London).
The gold penny was not popular, as Carte in his history of England says that the citizens of London made a representation against them on 24 November 1257, and that "the King was so willing to oblige them, that he published a proclamation, declaring that nobody was obliged to take it (the gold penny), and whoever did, might bring it to his exchange, and receive there the value at which it had been made current, a halfpenny on being deducted, probably for the coinage".
Unfortunately, the issue was undervalued; by 1265 the gold in the coin was worth twenty-four pence rather than twenty, and it is believed that most of the coins were melted down for profit by individuals. Consequently, as this coinage was not a success, gold coins would not be minted again in England until the reign of King Edward III.
Famous quotes containing the words gold and/or penny:
“The majority of the men of the North, and of the South and East and West, are not men of principle. If they vote, they do not send men to Congress on errands of humanity; but while their brothers and sisters are being scourged and hung for loving liberty,... it is the mismanagement of wood and iron and stone and gold which concerns them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Listen world,
if you’d just take the time to pick
the white fingers, the penny heart,
all would be well.
They are so unexpected.
They are as good as salt.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)