Old British coins are a popular choice among coin collectors but the value of old british coins will differ depending on a few factors. The history of british coins dates back many centuries. The guinea minted from 1663 to 1813 where the first machine struck gold coins of England.
There were other coins made prior to that called the Fathering dating back to the 13th century during the reign of King Edward the first and different variations of the fathering were used up till 1960 when they were declared no longer legal tender.
The guinea was always minted from gold in fact the name of the coin came from the place in Africa where most of the gold came from which was Guinea West Africa. As the value of gold increased either the size or content of gold was change to reflect the value of the coin during that era.
The fathering has been made of everything from tin to silver. This was decided by whoever was sitting on the thrown at the time. Tin was used from 1864 to 1692 with various different styles, but due to the rusting of tin, they became unpopular by the year 1692 and where then changed to bronze.
Not much is known today about the medieval fathering because very few are in existence. The main reason for that is they were worth so little 1/960 of a pound sterling no one bother to collect them over time.
Other interesting denominations of the British coins included the groat, decimal, half penny, penny, pence, shilling, florin, and the pound, and this list doesn’t cover all of them. The history of British coins spans over 7 centuries and many different royal names.