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1/2 Penny Kent - Benenden
| Issuer | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1794 |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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| Obverse description | Central field dominated by a large wheatsheaf bound with a plait at its base, symbolising agricultural abundance. A beaded border frames the design, with the legend PEACE AND PLENTY arranged around the periphery. The composition is bold and emblematic, characteristic of late 18th-century provincial token design. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Benenden is a small village in the Weald of Kent, and its appearance on a trade token reflects the acute shortage of regal copper coinage that plagued Britain through the 1780s and 1790s — the Royal Mint had effectively stopped producing penny and halfpenny coinage after 1775, leaving commerce to improvise. Provincial traders, merchants, and local issuers flooded the market with privately struck copper tokens, a practice that peaked around 1792–1795 before Parliament moved to suppress it. The Dalton-Hamer reference number places this piece within the systematic cataloguing of that era's Kent issues.