Virginia Coins

About This Coin

Struck in copper at an English mint around 1773, Virginia Coins — specifically the Virginia Halfpenny — represent the last colonial coinage authorized by the British Crown for an American colony before the Revolution. A royal warrant of May 20, 1773 allowed up to twenty-five tons of copper halfpence for Virginia to be struck at the Tower Mint, 60 to the pound, and Eric Newman described them as the only fully authorized coinage made for any of the colonies that became the United States. About five tons, some 672,000 halfpence, reached Virginia in February 1774, but the treasurer held them until a royal proclamation of November 16, 1774 allowed them to circulate. Newman sorted the obverses by whether a period follows GEORGIVS and the reverses by the number of harp strings.