Tanner Tales

Most of us have heard of the popular phrase ‘A lucky sixpence’, but just why this small coin should have been considered to have this almost magical quality is most intriguing. Having found quite a large number of them over the past six years, my interest was piqued, so with a little research I’ve found some rather interesting facts.

- John Keen

The sixpence has been around for some considerable time; the first examples were introduced into circulation during the reign of the so called ‘boy king’ Edward VI, being struck in the year 1551. In Britain we have the well-known tradition concerning the bride wearing something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue – but there is also a tradition of placing of a silver sixpence in the bride’s shoe. I didn’t know about that last action and discovered that many people I mentioned this to were also not aware of it either. A silver sixpence (Figs.1a & b) in the bride’s shoe is a wedding orientated good luck gesture and according to custom, it was the father of the bride who would place it there. The action being seen as a token of him wishing her prosperity, love and happiness during her marriage.

This tradition probably dates back to the 1600s when it was the Lord of the manor who gave the bride a piece of silver as a wedding gift. Over time this piece of silver was replaced by a sixpence. Later there was another tradition that included a sixpence in the dowry given by the bride’s family to the groom. Some families passed down the very same sixpence through the generations, to continue the good luck to future brides. Some coins were also chosen bearing the year of their parents’ or even grandparents’ weddings, or the year that they were born in.