Tower Royal, Watling Street, Coffee House Penny

Tower Royal, Watling Street, Coffee House Penny, brass penny, circa 1660, a Turk's head, NEERE THE TOWER ROYALL, rev. THO. / SCARLETT / HIS COFFEE/ PENNY, 24 mm, (3227). A small piece of the flan missing, presumably from the previous coin, otherwise very fine and rare. £Sold

English coffeehouses, in the 17th and 18th centuries, were public social places where people would meet for conversation and commerce while drinking coffee. For the price of a penny, customers purchased a cup of coffee and admission. Travellers introduced coffee as a beverage to England during the mid-17th century; previously it had been consumed mainly for its supposed medicinal properties. Coffeehouses also served tea and chocolate.

The historian Brian Cowan describes English coffeehouses as "places where people gathered to drink coffee, learn the news of the day, and perhaps to meet with other local residents and discuss matters of mutual concern." The absence of alcohol created an atmosphere in which it was possible to engage in more serious conversation than in an alehouse. Coffeehouses also played an important role in the development of financial markets and newspapers.

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