This piece is a trade token, not a government issue — struck privately at a time when official copper coinage had effectively vanished from Irish circulation. The 1790s shortage was acute enough that merchants, canal companies, and municipal traders across Ireland and Britain commissioned their own halfpenny and penny tokens by the millions to keep small transactions moving. The Dublin-Cork designation reflects the issuing merchant's trade route or commercial interest rather than any administrative geography.
Dalton & Hamer's reference number places it firmly within the documented Irish token series.
This piece is a trade token, not a government issue — struck privately at a time when official copper coinage had effectively vanished from Irish circulation. The 1790s shortage was acute enough that merchants, canal companies, and municipal traders across Ireland and Britain commissioned their own halfpenny and penny tokens by the millions to keep small transactions moving. The Dublin-Cork designation reflects the issuing merchant's trade route or commercial interest rather than any administrative geography.
Dalton & Hamer's reference number places it firmly within the documented Irish token series.