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1/2 Penny Middlesex - For General Convenience
| Issuer | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1797 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 28 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Britannia seated to the left upon a globe, holding a spear upright in her left hand and an olive branch in her right hand. A Union shield rests behind her figure. The date 1797 appears in the lower field, flanked by decorative stars, with the legend RULE BRITANIA encircling the design and a toothed border at the rim. |
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| Edge | Part engrailed, part lettered |
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| Additional information |
Middlesex conder tokens flooded into circulation during the 1780s and 1790s to fill a catastrophic shortage of regal small change — the Royal Mint had struck virtually no copper coinage since 1775, leaving trade at a standstill in many parts of England. Merchants, tradesmen, and entrepreneurs issued their own halfpennies by the millions, many carrying little more than a vague public-interest motto to skirt vagrancy laws that required tokens to advertise a specific issuer.
DH#1019 falls squarely into that catch-all category. The phrase "For General Convenience" is essentially a legal hedge. Boulton's Soho Mint contract coinage of 1797 rendered most of these tokens obsolete almost immediately.