The kingdoms of
England and
Scotland were merged by the 1707
Act of Union, to form the
Kingdom of Great Britain. The exchange rate between
£1 Scots and
£1 sterling had been fixed at 12:1 since the
Union of the Crowns in 1603, and in 1707
Scots currency ceased to be legal tender, with sterling to be used throughout Great Britain. The penny replaced the Scots
shilling. The design and specifications of the sterling penny were unchanged by unification, and it continued to be minted in silver after 1707.
Queen Anne's reign saw pennies minted in 1708, 1709, 1710 and 1713. These issues, however, were not for general circulation, instead being minted as
Maundy money. The prohibitive cost of minting silver coins had meant the size of pennies had been reduced over the years, with the minting of silver pennies for general circulation being halted in 1660. The practice of minting pennies only for Maundy money continued through the reigns of
George I and
George II, and into that of
George III. However, by George III's reign there was a shortage of pennies such that a great many merchants and mining companies issued their own
copper tokens e.g. the
Parys Mining Company on
Anglesey issued huge numbers of tokens (although their acceptability was strictly limited). In 1797, the government authorised
Matthew Boulton to strike copper pennies and twopences at his
Soho Mint in
Birmingham. At the time it was believed that the face value of a coin should correspond to the value of the material it was made from, so they had respectively to contain one or two pence worth of copper (for a penny this worked out to be one ounce of copper). This requirement meant that the coins would be significantly larger than the silver pennies minted previously. The large size of the coins, combined with the thick rim where the inscription was incuse i.e. punched into the metal rather than standing proud of it, led to the coins being nicknamed "cartwheels". These pennies were minted over the course of several years, but all are marked with the date 1797.
19th century By 1802, the production of privately issued provincial tokens had ceased. However, in the next ten years the intrinsic value of copper rose. The return of privately minted token coinage was evident by 1811 and endemic by 1812, as more and more of the government-issued copper coinage was melted down.
20th century The specification of the bronze version of the penny was that it should have a mass of 145.83333
grains or 9.44984 grams (about of an ounce; the
Coinage Act 1870 specifies the mass in grains and grams to five decimal places).. Pennies were minted every year of
Queen Victoria's reign, and every year of
Edward VII's reign.
George V pennies were produced every year to the same standard until 1922, but after a three-year gap in production, the alloy composition was changed to 95.5% copper, 3% tin and 1.5% zinc, although the weight and size remained unchanged (which was necessary because of the existence by then of large numbers of coin-operated amusement machines and public telephones). Thereafter, pennies were minted every year for the remainder of George V's reign, although only six or seven 1933 coins were minted, specifically for the king to lay under the foundation stones of new buildings; one of these coins was stolen when a church in
Leeds was demolished in the 1960s, and its whereabouts are unknown. Although a few
Edward VIII pennies dated 1937 exist, they are technically
pattern coins – trial pieces created for design approval. That approval would have taken place around the time of the
abdication of Edward VIII, so the coins never entered circulation. Pennies were not minted every year of
George VI's reign: None were minted in 1941, 1942 and 1943. Pennies minted in 1950 and 1951 were for overseas use only. One 1952 penny, believed to be unique, was struck by the Royal Mint. The worldwide shortage of tin during the
Second World War caused a change in the alloy in 1944 to 97% copper, 0.5% tin and 2.5% zinc, but this bronze tarnishes unattractively; the original 95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc alloy was restored in 1945. Because of the large number of pennies in circulation there was no need to produce any more in the 1950s, however a large number of specimen sets were issued in 1953 for the
coronation of Elizabeth II. At least one 1954 penny was struck, apparently for private internal purposes at the Royal Mint, but it was not until 1961 that there was a need for more pennies to be minted, and production continued each year until 1967, and afterwards (as pennies continued to be minted with the date 1967, until 1970). The 97% copper, 0.5% tin, 2.5% zinc alloy was used again for the 1960s pennies. Finally, there was an issue of proof quality coins dated 1970 produced to bid farewell to the denomination. ==Types and specifications==