ELIZABETH I THREEPENCE
PERIOD: TUDOR LOCATION: LINCOLNSHIRE, UK MATERIAL: SILVER
We were incredibly lucky getting into the hobby, uncovering Roman Coins and even a Charles I hammered within the first couple of months! Beginners' luck perhaps? Well it could have been because then came a period of drought (we were finding everything apart from those top drawer finds!) it took us some time to really settle into our new permission and discover the hot spots as well as truly learn our machine.
It took one slightly traumatic group dig weekender to crack the code that led to our second ever hammered, a 1573 Elizabeth I Threepence. We won’t reveal which group dig it was but pitching our pop up tent on top of tough rapeseed stubble was a particular low point as were the facilities, or lack of, that were available on the ‘site’. Yet in some ways it was one of our best group dig experiences. Truly feral, but we left with a brand new mindset and new approach to our permission that has proved the perfect formula ever since.
When on a group dig just talking to everybody and observing technique is the best way to learn. Everyone has got some excellent advice locked underneath their headphones and simply just getting to know people is one of the best ways we learnt the hobby.
Truly feral, but we left with a brand new mindset and new approach to our permission that has proved the perfect formula ever since.
The art of pottering was our magic trick, racing around the land really does get you nowhere, (even on a group dig when there’s fierce competition), have faith and believe that the finds are there and they will pop up. Exploring a new field after the group dig with this new mindset earned it the very fond nickname between us of: ‘the field of dreams’. Providing several fruitful weeks pottering across it and being rewarded for our patience.
This 1573 Elizabeth I Threepence was one of our first finds with this new approach and to us signifies the unlocking of the next level, a new era for Roman Found, one of FINDING. It’s the hammered that kick started ‘Super September’ proving to us that we really did know what we were doing out there all day in an open field with a stick looking for lost treasure.
Our coin is identifiable as a threepence by the rose behind Queen Elizabeth I’s iconic ruffled bust and the dated reverse.
The rose behind the Queen’s bust on this coin was an important mark to signify the coin as a threepence, allowing it to be differentiated from twopence and fourpence not just by their comparable sizes. The age-old problem of clipping still continued in Tudor Times with pieces of silver clipped (stolen) from the edges of the coins to be used as bullion. The rose meant that even a heavily clipped threepence could still be distinguished as a threepence and not passed off as any higher or lower than its value in circulation.
The problem with coin clipping in the Tudor Period meant that a new law had to be introduced in 1556 where it was a requirement that all coins were weighed before being accepted as payment and any that fell short had to be cut in half as void.
Threepences were with us for over 500 years after their first introduction by Edward VI. Elizabeth I reintroduced this coin back into currency during her reign, cementing its place in circulation as a new denomination that would continue to be minted and be minted it did! With the last true sterling silver threepence issued in 1919, with the threepence continuing to circulate in brass - nickel until decimalisation in 1971.
So what would this little coin have meant to someone back in the Tudor Period? Coin values and denominations change a lot over the years due to inflation, decimalisation, war and all sorts of economic and societal factors. This particular coin has over 500 years of history to it.
Well in Tudor Times one pound was the value of 240 pennies, so you would need 80 threepences to equal one Tudor pound. That might seem like quite a lot if you’re thinking in today's money and values but during the Tudor Period the average farm labourer, most likely to be the person who dropped this coin that we uncovered, would only make about 8 pounds a year. That means the loss of this threepence could have been a whole day's wage to some poor farm hand.
It never fails to surprise us just how much history can be hidden behind a find and this little coin is a rather special one in the Roman Found Collection, signifying not just our personal metal detecting history and the dawn of a new era but also the Tudor history of our permission.
