Two cartwheel twopence pieces 1797

After our weekend of family fun, our relations non-resident in West Sussex headed home today, fuelled by breakfast at Bill's in Chichester. Richard set off first to London by train. The rest travelled by car: Cindy, Julian, Florence and Star to Radcliffe-on-Trent; and Sam and Alan to Nottingham. Mr hazelh and I are the only ones left here now. We're staying an extra couple of days with my in-laws.

This afternoon Mr hazelh's step-father showed us some of the highlights of his coin collection. Blipped here are two cartwheel twopence pieces. The Collectors' coins GB guide book 2012/13 describes these coins as follows:

'The heaviest British British regal coin ever circulated, Cartwheel twopences are 41mm in diameter, over 5mm thick, and weigh almost 60 grammes each... [they] were the first to be struck for circulation by new steam powered presses installed by James Watt at the premises of Matthew Boulton in Soho, Birmingham. These two men changed the shape (quite literally!) of British coinage and set the standard for all coins that followed.'

722,160 cartwheel twopence pieces were minted in 1797. A quick calculation using online tools indicates that the face value of these two with inflation would now be 44p each. They are, however, worth a little more than this to coin collectors like my step-father.

Exercise today: another woeful none.