What is the least valuable British coin ever? - BBC Reality Check Error and Misinformation

[LawrenceChard]

According to this BBC web page:

What is the least valuable British coin ever?

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48153442

By Anthony Reuben:

The farthing was the smallest coin until 1960, except for a 27 year period in the mid-19th Century under Queen Victoria, when there was a half farthing.

Even the half farthing never dipped below a value of five pence in modern terms.

To start with, I think their title is slightly ambiguous and misleading, and think "What was the lowest face value British coin ever?" or "What was the lowest denomination British coin ever?" would have been a more accurate title.

But then, the body of the article is wrong in stating that the farthing waw the smallest coins until 1960. While it was correct that there was also a half farthing, it completely ignores the fact that there was also a third farthing, which was, of course, smaller and lower valued than either the farthing or half farthing.

And, the third farthing is not the smallest, as there were also quarter farthings.

So, here is a third farthing:

and the obverse:

There are some signs of a die clash on the reverse, and also an interesting die crack on the obverse.

Just out of interest, I did a Niton XRF test on this coin:

Which shows:

Copper 928

Tin 48

Zinc 16

Iridium 7

All ppt (parts per thousand).

Even the good old BBC don't always get things right!

😎

 

[Thelonerangershorse]

Adjusted for inflation, the least valuable coin ever is probably the current penny.

[TeaTime]

It's fairly typical of the BBC to dumb an article down. If they were to mention third and quarter farthings then they would need to explain about our historic colonies (which could upset a certain demographic of their audience and is probably too much effort to research anyway). 

Or to give them the benefit of the doubt perhaps they'd reached their word count and decided accuracy was not paramount.

[Bruce06]

9 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

According to this BBC web page:

What is the least valuable British coin ever?

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48153442

By Anthony Reuben:

The farthing was the smallest coin until 1960, except for a 27 year period in the mid-19th Century under Queen Victoria, when there was a half farthing.

Even the half farthing never dipped below a value of five pence in modern terms.

To start with, I think their title is slightly ambiguous and misleading, and think "What was the lowest face value British coin ever?" or "What was the lowest denomination British coin ever?" would have been a more accurate title.

But then, the body of the article is wrong in stating that the farthing waw the smallest coins until 1960. While it was correct that there was also a half farthing, it completely ignores the fact that there was also a third farthing, which was, of course, smaller and lower valued than either the farthing or half farthing.

And, the third farthing is not the smallest, as there were also quarter farthings.

So, here is a third farthing:

and the obverse:

There are some signs of a die clash on the reverse, and also an interesting die crack on the obverse.

Just out of interest, I did a Niton XRF test on this coin:

Which shows:

Copper 928

Tin 48

Zinc 16

Iridium 7

All ppt (parts per thousand).

Even the good old BBC don't always get things right!

😎

 

The one third farthing in the post is lovely

[LawrenceChard]

7 hours ago, Bruce06 said:

The one third farthing in the post is lovely

I fully agree!

🙂

[LawrenceChard]

16 hours ago, Thelonerangershorse said:

Adjusted for inflation, the least valuable coin ever is probably the current penny.

I was thinking of trying to index-link the spending values of third farthings and quarter farthings, during the time spans of their issue, but...

... it sounds like too much work, for very little reward.

😎

[LawrenceChard]

14 hours ago, TeaTime said:

It's fairly typical of the BBC to dumb an article down. If they were to mention third and quarter farthings then they would need to explain about our historic colonies (which could upset a certain demographic of their audience and is probably too much effort to research anyway). 

Or to give them the benefit of the doubt perhaps they'd reached their word count and decided accuracy was not paramount.

I guess their defence might be that their sources told them that third and quarter farthings were not legal tender in the UK, which may or may not be true. I don't feel inclined to delve back into history to check, but they clearly appear to be British coins, so I think ignoring or omitting them is questionable at best.

Is that just a touch cynical about word count and accuracy?

😎

[GoldDiggerDave]

Wonder what the least intrinsic value British coin is?  Decimal 1/2 penny was bronze I think so possibly a new 5p after 2012,  it’s going to have to be something modern as they are made with base metal or they could be an older coin.  Off top of my head I’d punt for a modern steel nickel plated 5p.