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1/2 Penny Dorset - Sherborne / Pretor, Pew and Co.
| Issuer | Pretor, Pew and Whitty (Sherborne, Dorset) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1793 |
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| Value | 1/2 Penny (1⁄480) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central device featuring a double-headed eagle displayed, with wings spread upward and outward, each head facing to opposite sides; the eagle's talons clutch olive or laurel branches in the lower field. The date 1793 appears in the exergue below the eagle. A circular legend reading 'A SHERBORNE HALFPENNY · 1793' runs along the outer border, with the inscription partially visible along the upper arc. The design is struck in bold relief on a plain copper field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | A SHERBORNE HALFPENNY · 1793 |
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| Additional information |
Sherborne's late eighteenth-century trade token issues emerged from the same commercial pressures that drove token production across provincial England in the 1780s and 1790s — a chronic shortage of regal small change that the Royal Mint had effectively abandoned. Pretor, Pew and Whitty were mercers operating in Sherborne, and their tokens circulated as functional small change within the local trading community rather than as any kind of promotional novelty.
The Conder token series from Dorset is relatively thin, making Sherborne issues among the more geographically specific survivals from the county.