The silver three-farthing (d) coin was introduced in Queen Elizabeth I's third and fourth coinages (1561âÂÂ1582), as part of a plan to produce large quantities of coins of varying denominations and high metal content. It was worth shilling, or pound sterling.
The obverse shows a left-facing bust of the queen, with a rose behind her and the legend <small>E D G ROSA SINE SPINA</small> â Elizabeth, by the grace of God a rose without a thorn â while the reverse shows the royal arms with the date above the arms and a mint mark at the beginning of the legend reading <small>CIVITAS LONDON</small> â City of London, the Tower Mint.
The three-farthings coin closely resembles the three-halfpence coin, differing only in the diameter, which is for an unclipped coin, compared to for the three-halfpence.
All the coins are hammered, except for the extremely rare milled three-farthings of 1563, of which only three examples are known to exist.