1/2 Penny Dublin - Hilles Ironmongers

Issued by J. Hilles, an ironmonger trading in Dublin, this halfpenny token dates from the period when small-denomination regal coinage had effectively vanished from Irish circulation. The Royal Mint's chronic underproduction of copper coin through the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries forced tradesmen across Britain and Ireland to commission their own tokens or lose retail business entirely to competitors who had. Hilles was one of dozens of Dublin merchants who filled the gap.

The Withers and Davis references place this firmly within the documented Irish token series. Davis 58 is a well-catalogued variety.