Long Cross Penny

The Long Cross Penny is a hammered medieval English silver penny of the 13th century. The example shown has a crowned facing or profile royal bust with a Latin inscription around the rim on the obverse, and on the reverse a long voided cross whose arms extend all the way to the edge of the coin, dividing the legend and each arm ending in ornamental pellets or rosette-like groups.

The design gets its name from that reverse cross, which reaches the rim rather than stopping inside a border as on the earlier "short cross" coinage. Struck by hand on a small, thin, irregular silver flan, the penny was the workhorse coin of medieval England and one of the most commonly encountered hammered English coins today.

The long cross type was introduced in England in 1247 under King Henry III as a reform of the coinage. Earlier pennies used a "short cross" that stopped within the inner circle, which made it easy for people to clip silver from the plain outer edge. Extending the cross fully to the rim was a deliberate anti-clipping measure: any missing metal would break the cross and reveal that the coin had been tampered with.

Pennies of this general design continued through the reign and into that of Edward I, until the coinage was overhauled again in 1279. Throughout this period the penny was effectively the only regularly struck denomination, cut into halves and quarters when smaller change was needed. Coins were produced at numerous mints across the kingdom by named moneyers, whose names and mint towns appear in the reverse legend.

Look for a small, thin silver coin, roughly 18 mm across and light in the hand, struck by hand so the flan is often slightly irregular or off-center. The obverse shows a crowned royal head with a sceptre in some issues, ringed by a Latin inscription naming the king. The lettering and portrait are stylized and medieval in character rather than finely modeled.

The defining feature is the reverse: a long voided cross (a cross drawn as double outlines with an open center) whose four arms run out to the very edge of the coin, splitting the surrounding legend into four groups. That legend typically records the moneyer's name and the mint town. Pellets in the angles of the cross and rosette-like terminals are normal. Because the cross reaches the rim, this type is easy to separate from the earlier short cross pennies, whose cross stops inside a beaded circle.

Long cross pennies survive in large numbers, so most collectible value comes from condition, completeness of the flan and legend, the specific king and class, and the mint and moneyer rather than outright rarity. Well-worn, chipped, or clipped examples of common mints are among the more affordable medieval hammered coins, while full, round, well-centered coins with clear portraits and readable legends command higher prices.

Scarcer mints, unusual moneyers, and sharply struck coins on a complete flan bring premiums, and cut halfpennies and farthings (pennies deliberately cut into fractions) are collected in their own right. Because the type spans several reigns and many mints, values vary widely; treat any single figure as approximate and compare against recent sales of the same king, class, and grade.