Cartwheels

If you enjoy history and artifacts that are linked to a lot of historical themes simultaneously, and particularly if you like old coins, as I do, then this one is easy to get attached to.

These big heavy coppers are nearly unique in the world of coinage. They were minted only in 1797, and were without precedent, for earlier pence were of silver, and earlier coppers were small and thin for the most part.

By 1797 in Britain counterfeiting was rampant, real coins were getting worn out, and the supply of good small denomination coinage was running low. So these giant copper coins - the two-pence (above) and a smaller penny in the same design - were created. And they were the first coins minted on a steam-driven machine - a bit of history in itself.

But what is dramatic about these coins is their size! The two-pence is an inch and three-quarters in diameter and a quarter inch thick. It weighs a full two ounces, and the penny weighs one ounce, which made them useful as counter weights. That is one reason so many may have survived in relatively good condition.

The design is simple but at the same time elegant - the infamous King George III who we fought against in the Revolution on the obverse, and on the reverse the classic Britannia. It was the unusual raised flat rim that runs around perimeter of the coin that gave it its nickname - "Cartwheel".

For me there is another connection to history. The date - 1797 - is right in the middle of the period of inland navigation and canals I am researching. So when I hold one of these heavy coins in my hand, I know that as it was being spent in England, here in New York the finishing touches were being put on one or the other of the works that helped connect the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, long before the Erie Canal was built.

And of course in a coin like this, where the face of the reigning monarch is imprinted on every strike, one can enjoy comparisons of the coined portrait with the real man, even if sometimes drawn in exaggeration. King George III may have gone down in history as the mad king, or the British monarch who lost the American Colonies, but at least in one area he was unsurpassed - the size and weight of his coinage in 1797!