Back in 2019, I did some comparisons on the historical value of coinage to show that the penny was by far the most worthless UK coin ever. Since then, inflation has made the situation worse, and a pound is worth about ⅘ of what it was in 2019, so I thought it might be interesting (/horrifying) to update the table.

Here’s what each of the previous smallest coins was worth in 2024 pounds (the latest data available) at the time it was withdrawn from circulation:

Coin Year withdrawn Face value £1 in £2024 Value in £2024
Half farthing 1870 £1⁄1920 £129.1 6.7p
Farthing 1960 £1⁄960 £31.06 3.2p
Halfpenny 1969 £1⁄480 £22.2 4.6p
Penny 1971 £1⁄240 £19.06 7.9p
Halfpenny (decimal) 1984 £1⁄200 £4.34 2.2p

The value of £1 in £2024 is the real price taken from the Measuring Worth calculator.

A penny today is worth less than a quarter of a penny was at the time that the decimal halfpenny was withdrawn in 1984. It must be time to get rid of 1p and 2p coins.