This groat (4 penny piece) was minted by Henry VIII (1509-1547), when he was very short of money at the end of his reign. To increase the number of coins he could make from his limited stocks of precious metal, Henry began to mix more and more base metal with the silver, a process known as debasement. Today a government would issue more and more banknotes. Between 1544 and 1547 the silver content of Henry's coins dropped from the traditional 92.5% to just over 30%.