Do you know who ‘old coppernose’ is?

[Foster88]

I thought this might be of interest to some of you.

Do you know who ‘old coppernose’ is?

I’ll give you a clue, he was the second Tudor monarch, he had six wives, a chronic jousting injury and by contemporary writings he also had a terrible temper.

I’m talking about Henry VIII of course. But why was he called ‘old coppernose’?

Well, towards the end of his reign (1544-1551) the country was in the financial terrible. It sounds familiar, I know. Henry VIII’s wars with Scotland and France had cost the King’s coffers a small fortune.

During what is known as The Great Debasement, gold coinage was reduced from 23ct to 20ct and silver coinage was reduced from 92.5% (Sterling) to a mere 25%.

So why was he known as old coppernose? Well the silver coinage was mostly copper by the end of his reign and as the coins were circulated the high points of the coins, naturally, the obverse and (his nose) wear first. Ultimately giving old Henry VIII a copper nose. It continued into the early reign of his son, Edward VI and it wasn’t until Elizabeth I that it was stopped and a privy mark added to earlier coins. It got so bad that traders in mainland Europe refused English coinage.

If any of you want to learn more, the programme Digging For Britain series 1 episode 6 towards the end tells the story better than I ever could.

 

[SidS]

So maybe in years to come Elizabeth II will be old steel-nose? Once the copper plating wears away from the coin beneath. 😁

If you seek inflation, look no further.

 

Interesting to note that some of those base metal coins (Edward VI mostly) were still knocking about in 1696 at the Great Recoinage (counter-stamped at a much lower face value than their original issue). Gresham's Law in action. Which along with clipping lead to many of the currency problems that the 1696 Recoinage failed to solve.

Edited January 10, 2023 by SidS

[LawrenceChard]

10 hours ago, Foster88 said:

I thought this might be of interest to some of you.

Do you know who ‘old coppernose’ is?

I’ll give you a clue, he was the second Tudor monarch, he had six wives, a chronic jousting injury and by contemporary writings he also had a terrible temper.

I’m talking about Henry VIII of course. But why was he called ‘old coppernose’?

Well, towards the end of his reign (1544-1551) the country was in the financial terrible. It sounds familiar, I know. Henry VIII’s wars with Scotland and France had cost the King’s coffers a small fortune.

During what is known as The Great Debasement, gold coinage was reduced from 23ct to 20ct and silver coinage was reduced from 92.5% (Sterling) to a mere 25%.

So why was he known as old coppernose? Well the silver coinage was mostly copper by the end of his reign and as the coins were circulated the high points of the coins, naturally, the obverse and (his nose) wear first. Ultimately giving old Henry VIII a copper nose. It continued into the early reign of his son, Edward VI and it wasn’t until Elizabeth I that it was stopped and a privy mark added to earlier coins. It got so bad that traders in mainland Europe refused English coinage.

If any of you want to learn more, the programme Digging For Britain series 1 episode 6 towards the end tells the story better than I ever could.

 

I was expecting to answer "Henry VIII", of course, but it seems it was only a rhetorical question.

Wars are one possible explanation for the financial state, but having 6 wives, and probably 6 mistresses every week, is possibly a better explanation.

😎

[sovereignsteve]

Copperknob?

[SidS]

Copperpot... Chester Copperpot. 😁

[sixgun]

An interesting historical story of currency debasement - the same trickery i posted about the Roman silver denarius.

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by sixgun