1/2 Penny Lancashire - Lancaster / John of Gaunt

Lancaster's 1794 halfpenny token was issued during the great copper token boom that swept Britain's industrial towns after the Royal Mint's near-total failure to supply adequate small change. The Borough had essentially no choice — wages could not be paid and small transactions ground to a halt without privately issued substitutes. Dalton & Hamer catalogued this piece as DH#41, placing it within the well-documented Lancaster civic series.

John of Gaunt's connection to Lancaster is constitutional rather than decorative: as Duke of Lancaster, his line's inheritance formed the legal basis of the Duchy that still technically holds the county palatine today.