Medieval Silver Cut Farthing

The Medieval Silver Cut Farthing is not a coin struck as a farthing but a fragment of a full silver penny, physically cut into quarters to provide small change. The example shown is a wedge-shaped piece bearing part of a crowned royal portrait and heraldic detail on one face, and part of a long cross with pellets on the other.

Because the standard medieval penny carried a long cross dividing the reverse into four, the design itself acted as a cutting guide. Snipping a penny in half produced two halfpennies, and cutting again along the cross arms produced four farthings (from Old English feorthing, a fourth part). Each piece was still valued for its silver.

These cut pieces are irregular by nature: roughly a quarter-circle, thin, and showing only a portion of the original legends and design. What survives on any given fragment depends entirely on where it was cut and how much wear it saw in circulation.

For much of the medieval period England's smallest routinely struck coin was the silver penny, which was often too valuable for everyday petty purchases. To make change, people simply cut pennies along the reverse cross into halves and quarters, a practice that was widespread from the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods onward and remained common through the reigns spanning Edward I to Henry VII (1272-1509).

The long-cross penny design, introduced in the mid-13th century and continued under Edward I's major recoinage, deliberately extended the cross to the edge of the coin so that cutting would leave a clear line and reassure users that each fragment was a true fraction. Cutting was so normal that quartered pieces circulated openly as farthings alongside any officially struck small coins.

Round, purpose-struck silver farthings were issued intermittently from Edward I onward, but they were tiny, easily lost, and never fully replaced the convenience of cutting a penny. Cut fractions therefore persisted for generations, which is why so many surviving medieval pennies are found today as halves and quarters rather than whole coins.

The defining feature is the shape: a genuine cut farthing is roughly a quarter of a round coin, a wedge or pie-slice with two straight cut edges meeting near the centre and one curved original edge. The cut edges typically run along the arms of the reverse cross.

On the reverse fragment look for part of a long cross with groups of pellets (dots) in the angles, a hallmark of the long-cross penny series. The obverse fragment usually shows a portion of a facing crowned bust and fragments of a Latin legend around the rim. Only part of any inscription will be present.

The metal is silver, thin and often toned grey or dark from age. Size is dictated by the parent penny (whole pennies were roughly 18-20 mm across), so a farthing fragment is a small quarter of that. Because only a slice of the design survives, precise dating or attribution to a single reign can be difficult and often requires matching the visible portrait style and legend fragments to known penny types.

Cut farthings are among the more affordable medieval silver pieces because they are fragments rather than complete coins, and because cutting was so common that many survive. Worn or heavily broken quarters with little visible design tend to sit at the low end of the market.

Value rises with how much of the original design and legend is readable, how cleanly the piece was cut, and whether the parent penny type or reign can be identified. A well-preserved quarter showing a clear portrait, an identifiable cross-and-pellet reverse, and legible letters is more desirable than a plain sliver.

As fragments, these pieces are difficult to grade by standard scales and prices vary widely with eye appeal and attribution. Treat any figure as a rough guide only, and for a specific fragment seek an opinion from a dealer or specialist familiar with medieval English hammered coinage.