Not sure if anyone can help at all, I won this Fractional Farthing off of Ebay the other day and looked on the excellent About Farthings website but couldn't find any info on it. It is a Coronation Model Half Farthing and has the year 1902 on the reverse. The image on the reverse is similar to that of the Sovereign coins of the period.

Does anyone know what it's worth, how many were issued, etc?

Any help greatly appreciated

It is actually play money, but very collectible and fascinating.

Great Britain. Edward VII Miniature Coins, 1902
Edwardus vii Die Gratia Rex Bust ~ Coronation Model Half Farthing. George and Dragon dated 1902 Coronation Model Half Farthing" without maker's name. 12 mm to 16 mm, copper or brass

By the mid-nineteenth century, enough advancements had been made that it had become possible to mint highly detailed medals. So a number of European die sinking firms started making exceedingly small, miniature medals to advertise their services. They soon discovered that making miniature coins was even better as people could compare them with real coins then in circulation to see the quality of the work. Such miniature coins became popular as souvenirs, and were minted by private European mints for the next century. Individual pieces can be dated by the type of coin that they imitate.

http://www.jc.brett.btinternet.co.uk/tokens.htm

Edwardus vii Die Gratia Rex Bust ~ Coronation Model Half Farthing. George and Dragon
1902. Copper 16mm. vf……………………………………………………………………. $3.20

I saw a lot of 3 selling for about 20 USD

I dont have it with me here but they might be listed with more accurate pricing in my Unusual world coin catalog, they seem to be privately issued mini coins / tokens.

Thanks for the info

So it's an type of play money then, very interesting

Well..I wouldnt say that...its more like a British advertising token (though this one doesnt have the maker on it)...Many of them had a makers name on them...it was a way to show what they can do...Its advertisement...I have of a George III sovereign like this.

I guess you can call it play money but its a bit more than that...I think f play money as something more like monopoly money.

A lot of these model coins were not originally intended as such to be play money, but often became so if children got them. My personal favourites are the ones with the small silver insert in them from the 1840's and 1850's.

Ah ok I misunderstood your post Scottish Money.

Those Model Penny's of Queen Victoria are excellent, I hope to get some of these eventually, although they aren't that common.

Would this Edward VII have had a silver border round it originally at all?

Also two more questions:

1. Could these actually be spent in shops?

2. Were there any Edward VIII releases at all?

These coins were described as "model coins" and were as I understand, issued by coin producers as an example of their products and suggesting denominations/coinage types.

The Victorian bimetallic coins produced by Joseph Moore were apparently widely accepted and used as coinage, although they were not legal tender.

The coin you have is one of a series which were produced, which included an 1887 version and an 1897 version, they are not particularly rare, but tend to attract quite a bit of interest. On Ebay, the prices really can fluctuate, due to the lack of information about such pieces, but I would tend to say sell for about £3-15 each plus postage (I have seen a couple go for more and also a bit less!!)

I understand there are numerous varieties for each of the denominations, and that they are listed in a book called "Toy Coins by Dr Rogers".

I have not included them on my site to date, because I have tried to restrict the listings to currency issues. Mainly because it opens up another large area for me to investigate, maybe it is one for the future!!

What it may be worth me doing is adding some simple photos and a brief summary on my FAQ page!!

Also two more questions:

1. Could these actually be spent in shops? Short answer? No...Though there are example of these types of coins that could be used as a sort of coupon, mainly they were used as advertisment for a store, a service (as in the minting of tokens) or what have you.

2. Were there any Edward VIII releases at all? Well, I have only seen a 1938 shilling model with Edward VIII, A Fantasy Maundy set from 1936 bearing the portrait of Edward VIII struck in silver... that is not to say there arent others out there... I just havent seen them.

Yours was the first website I headed to once I recieved the coin & I did get a bit confused when I couldn't find an image of the coin on your website. If you would like to used the image on your website, if you don't have one of these yourself of course, please feel free to do so

I'll also keep an eye out for that book you mentioned

I myself have several Edward VIII patterns from the Spink Patina collections, which I know caused a bit of a stir when they came out but I got them more for what they are than value as I know they aren't going to be very valuable in future anyway

BTW you've SEEN a 1938 Edward VIII Shilling model

Not in person. I have seen many of these for sale and have even read a discussion about them and whether or not its right to sell them as they may fool collectors. I thought the discussion was over a 1938 EVIII shilling. There is a big list of them, some with photos in the Catalog of Unusual World Coins that deal with this type of coin (fantasy). There are issues in several different countries (colonies) like the gold coast, gibraltar, hong kong, etc... as well as indy issues such as the Maundy Retro Issues and the Historic Coin Co. Retro Issues. That bear the dates Dates 1936,37,38

After looking in this book I see a Shilling for 1937 and the Maundy Issues Dated 1938 with most Double Florins, Crowns and Sovereins listed 36 or 37...so I might have gotten the date wrong for the shilling I saw.

Sorry I meant the Ed VIII shilling that you said you had seen.

Regarding the pattern coins of this monarch, the ones I have purchased have all stated that they were part of the Spink Patina collection and there was controversy releasing them at the time. Only one that I bought didn't state than information but the seller said they didn't know about the coin anyway & I payed next to nothing for it

The Edward VIII shilling was minted by 'Historic Coin Co. Retro Issues'
who issued a full gamut of Edward VIII coins. I have seen a picture of the shilling, probably could scan it in if you like.

Yes please

no problem...when I get home from work tonight I will scan the page that has ALL the Historic Coin Co. Retro Issues for Eddie 8...

Richard Lobel of Coincraft had a huge number of Eddie the VIIIth "coins that could have been" made a few years ago. In my opinion they were not very nice looking, and looked like knockoffs. Other than Fiji, Kutch(Indian State) there were no coins struck in his name, and the 3d coins were accidentally released, or so the story says.

well, there were quite a few coins struck with him on it...Half florins and Crowns in Britian and Territories. They werent circulating and are, I guess, considered more like medals but they are actually struck as coins...Almost every British colony minted up some kind of coin with his mug on it, mostly crowns and sovereigns.

I will just scan the several pages of Eddie 8 coins / medals / models in this catalog and we can go from there...I was a bit shocked to see so many coins with him on it from all over the empire.

They are all struck afterwards, the 3d coins were the only actual coins, but they are really not released for circulation, just escaped. Fiji had a penny struck in the name of Edw 8th, and Kutch struck some coins in his name. No real coins were struck otherwise, everything else is a later date fantasy - and there are a LOT of them.

Oh yeah...the ones I am refering to are all fantasy...sorry.

Maundy issues and Historic Coin Co. Issues (shilling at the bottom) they also issued florin, crown, 5 shilling and sovereign... crowns on this page are INA Retro Issues


Geoffrey Hearn Issues, Richard Lobel Issues, Pobjoy Mint, and unknown mint Crowns, 1/2 crowns, and Sovereigns


INA Retro issue Double Florins.


There are more pages and then there are thouse minted for colonies and former british provinces...but these are pretty big.

Thanks for those I have that 1937 Crown one, which is from the Spink Patina collection. They made the best ones out of all the pattern coins issued for Edward VIII, they seem to have his portrait near identical to the ones in the Spink catalogue. The rest seem rather odd the writing is very big & his portrait just doesn't look right, anyone else agree?

In my very humble opinion, I think the 1954 and 1946 Hearn issue crowns have the best portraits.