Farthing (British coin)

One farthing

United Kingdom
Value	⁠1/4⁠d sterling
Mass	2.83 g
Diameter	20.19 mm
Thickness	0.666 mm
Edge	Plain
Composition	Bronze
Years of minting	1860–1956
Obverse
Design	Elizabeth II
Designer	Mary Gillick
Design date	1953
Reverse
Design	Wren (Britannia on earlier mintages)
Designer	Harold Wilson Parker
Design date	1937

The farthing (from Old English fēorðing, from fēorða, a fourth) was a British coin worth one quarter of a penny, or ⁠1/960⁠ of a pound sterling. Initially minted in copper, and then in bronze, it replaced the earlier English farthing. Between 1860 and 1971, the farthing's purchasing power ranged between 12p and 0.2p in 2017 values.^[1]

The farthing's reverse bore an image of Britannia until 1937, when a wren was introduced. As with all British coins, the obverse bore the image of the reigning monarch.^[2] The farthing ceased to be legal tender in the United Kingdom on 1 January 1961.^[3]