1/2 Penny Hampshire - Emsworth / Earl Howe

Emsworth, a small Hampshire port on Chichester Harbour, issued this halfpenny token during the provincial token boom of the 1780s–90s, when chronic Royal Mint neglect of small copper coinage left tradespeople across Britain effectively minting their own change. The choice of Admiral Earl Howe as subject was shrewd local politics — Howe had commanded the Channel Fleet and his decisive victory over the French on the Glorious First of June 1794 made him the hero of the hour precisely when this token entered circulation.

Dalton & Hamer number it 20; Atkins assigned it 8 in his independent sequence.