Silver Threepence Story

Obverse of 1887 Victoria Jubilee Head Silver Threepence

Reverse of 1887 Victoria Jubilee Head Silver Threepence

1913 George V Silver Threepence

Reverse of 1927 Proof Silver Threepence

Edward VI -1551
The very first silver threepence was issued in 1551 for Edward VI.
There had been a severe debasement of the silver coinage under his father Henry VIII, which had continued in the early years of Edward's reign. In 1551, however, the quality of the silver coinage was restored, although at a lower weight, and the silver threepence along with the sixpence was issued for the first time as part of this new higher standard of silver coinage.
For many centuries, the only commonly issued coin had been the silver penny, followed by the groat or fourpence during the thirteenth century. In the sixteenth century, many new coin denominations were added.
This first threepence of Edward VI had a portrait of the young king facing, with a tudor rose to his left, and the value III to the right. The reverse design was a shield and a long cross. As most of the coins of this period, the threepence was undated, although the first British coins to bear a date were also issued in 1551.

Elizabeth I
No threepences were issued during the reigns of Mary or Philip and Mary, but their production restarted under Elizabeth I. By now most but not all coins were being struck with dates. The Elizabeth threepences did not carry a value mark, as in those days most people could tell the difference between a twopence, threepence and fourpence by their size and weight. Nowadays, one of the commonest enquiries we get relates to coins people have found an "old" coin and being puzzled and confused because it doesn't state its face value or denomination, which they find surprising.

James I and Charles I
No threepences were issued for James I, or during the early part of Charles' reign, but production restarted again from about 1638. Some types had III as their value mark, others were issued without.

The Commonwealth & Oliver Cromwell
No threepences were issued under either of these two regimes, or during the first part of Charles II reign when hammered coins were still being produced.

Charles II & Milled Coinage
During the reign of Charles II, the last hammered coinage was produced which did not include threepences. Milled (machine made) coinage finally superseded the previous hand-hammered coining methods, and a complete new coinage was introduced with noticeably different designs. The silver threepences bore three interlinked letter C's, being the initial letter of Charles, the other three small silver coins, pennies, twopences, and fourpences each carried their appropriate number of C's to show their value. Both undated and dated versions were produced from 1670 onwards.

James I to William III
The threepences of James I had a crowned III in Roman numerals to show their value, as did those of William & Mary and William III.

Anne
Although farthings of Queen Anne are famously rare, the threepences are still rarer. None were issued.

George I to George VI
There were no changes, apart from stylistic ones, in the silver threepence design from the start of George I's reign in 1760 through to that of George VI in 1937. the reverse design remained as a crowned "3" numeral, even through the major recoinage of 1817.

1937 - A New Design
In 1937, a new design was introduced for the silver threepences of George VI, and at the same time a new brass alloy was used for the new twelve sided brass threepences. The new silver threepence design was a shield bearing St. George's cross in the centre of a rose.
Silver threepences continued to be issued until 1944, although from 1942 they were only issued for colonial use, and the last three dates are fairly scarce particularly in higher grades. 1945 dated coins were struck but withdrawn before issue, and they are extremely rare.

Brass Threepences
The new brass threepence quickly displaced the older silver coins which were felt to be rather small to be handled easily, and also were quite easily bent.
You may wish to take a look at our Brass Threepences section.

Maundy Threepences Still Survive Unchanged
When the design changed in 1937, the Maundy threepences still retained their centuries old design of a crowned figure "3". Somebody reading this page will stop reading before they get to this point and e-mail or phone us excitedly to tell us they have found one of the extremely rare 1945 threepences we have just described above. The same will happen with later dates also. Even to this day, the silver threepences produced each year for the Maundy ceremony still retain the old crowned "3" as their reverse design.

Joeys
This page would not be complete without telling you that a common "nickname" for the silver threepence was a "Joey", although we have also heard this used for the silver groat or fourpence. Just for the moment, I have forgotten why the term Joey was used, but when my long-term memory kicks back in, I will add this extra information. I think that the name may have come into popular use around the time of the introduction of the new brass threepence to distinguish between the two types. Again this could bee wrong, so we will research further before returning to complete this page.

Coming Soon...

Stock List of Threepences, by Type

Stock List of Threepences by Date

If you have an enquiry about any of our Threepences, we'd be happy to answer you, but please note it may be quicker to telephone us. Please see the Contact Us page of our website.

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There are more answers to be found on our Frequently Asked Coin Questions page.