Halfpenny, half penny, or ha'penny may refer to:

Coins:

Other:

See also

The half cent is the smallest denomination of United States coin ever minted.

History

First authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792 on April 2, 1792, the coin was produced in the United States from 1793 to 1857. The half-cent piece was made of 100% copper and was valued at five milles, or one two-hundredth of a dollar. It was slightly smaller than a modern U.S. quarter with diameters 22 mm (1793), 23.5 mm (1794–1836) and 23 mm (1840–1857). Coinage was discontinued by the Coinage Act of February 21, 1857. They were all produced at the Philadelphia Mint.

At the time of their discontinuation, the half cent had more buying power than a dime in 2012. Based on the Consumer Price Index, the 2014 value is 14¢.

Design Varieties

There are several different types of half cents:

The British decimal halfpenny (½p) coin was introduced in February 1971, at the time of decimalisation, and was worth one two-hundredth of a pound sterling. It was ignored in banking transactions, which were carried out in units of 1p.

The decimal halfpenny had the same value as 1.2 pre-decimal pence, and was introduced to enable the prices of some low-value items to be more accurately translated to the new decimal currency. The possibility of setting prices including an odd half penny also made it more practical to retain the pre-decimal sixpence in circulation (with a value of 2½ new pence) alongside the new decimal coinage.

The halfpenny coin's obverse featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II; the reverse featured an image of St Edward's Crown. It was minted in tin (like the 20p and 5p coins). It was the smallest decimal coin in both size and value. The size was in proportion to the 1p and 2p coins. It soon became Britain's least favourite coin.The Treasury had continued to argue that the halfpenny was important in the fight against inflation (preventing prices from being rounded up); however in 1984 the halfpenny was issued by the Royal Mint only in mint and proof sets, and the coin was demonetised and withdrawn from circulation in December 1984.