Post Medieval, 1540-1901AD

Post medieval period spans the history of the Tudors, Stuarts, Georgians, and finally the Victorians.

The Great Debasement (1544–1551) was a currency debasement policy introduced in 1544 England, under the order of Henry VIII, which saw the amount of precious metal in gold and silver coins reduced and in some cases replaced entirely with cheaper base metals such as copper. The Great Debasement policy continued under Edward VI, with silver content dropping to only 25% in mid 16th century. Debasement was revoked in 1551 and silver fineness restored to 92.5%.

Up to this point in history coins were made by hammering metal between two dies, hence they are known as hammered coins. In the late 16th century, Elizabeth I introduced milled coinage and had all the circulating hammered coins withdrawn from circulation and melted down.