Not the Smallest

Your dispatch from Reuters in today’s paper about the demise of the British halfpenny included the information that it was the smallest British coin since the Dark Ages. This is incorrect. Two smaller coins, the farthing and the threepenny bit, were in common use until a few years ago.

I remember as a small boy, I could purchase a week’s supply of sweets (mint humbugs, aniseed balls, licorice bits etc.) for a farthing. The threepenny bit, a tiny silver coin, could purchase a dozen Jaffa oranges or half a dozen eggs and get a halfpenny change!

LEONARD RICHLAND Los Angeles