Post Medieval coin guide

The Portable Antiquities Scheme regularly records all coins issued up to the end of the Commonwealth in 1660, although we have to be more selective thereafter owing to the numbers of coins found. However, we still want to see all post-medieval coins found regardless of date or condition. Currently, over 16,000 post-medieval coins have been recorded on the database and they are helping us to understand more about the use and circulation of coinage in this period, such as our Lincolnshire FLO Adam Daubney’s award-winning work on the circulation of Venetian soldini (Jeffrey May award at Current Archaeology 2010).

This guide will continue to develop over time, but it provides an introduction to the coins of the period, a visual aid to identification of coins commonly found in England and Wales, and will allow for easy searching of the database. You can search on any post-medieval ruler in England from Henry VIII to the Commonwealth of England (1509-1660) and a number of foreign rulers, including the kings of Scotland.

 You can also search by the coins themselves, from broader categories of coins, divided into the major groupings of coins, providing information on a wide range of types in a single search to individual coin types or mints.

The range of denominations is consistently broad for all rulers, ranging from gold to small silver fractions (halfpennies and farthings), and the introduction of copper issues by the reign of James I (1603-25). You can search these by denomination. 

 

Latest notable coins