GB 1797 Cartwheel Penny aUNC
Tax included.
The 1797 British Cartwheel Penny is one of the most iconic copper coins ever produced, struck at Matthew Boulton’s Soho Mint using steam-powered presses. Designed by Conrad Heinrich Küchler, it features a bold laureate portrait of King George III and a powerful seated Britannia reverse. Its unusually large size and full one-ounce copper weight were intended to inspire public confidence and deter counterfeiting. Importantly, Cartwheel pennies are believed to have reached Australia and may have circulated in colonial New South Wales during the Proclamation Period (1800–1813), when official coinage was scarce. This coin stands as a tangible link between Britain’s industrial innovation and Australia’s earliest colonial economy.