1/2 Penny Middlesex - Lackington's

Lackington, Allen & Co. operated out of the "Temple of the Muses" in Finsbury Square — at the time reputedly the largest bookshop in the world, its founder James Lackington having built his fortune largely by selling remaindered books at reduced prices rather than destroying surplus stock, as was then common practice. These tradesman's tokens were issued during the provincial token boom of the 1790s, when chronic Royal Mint underproduction of small copper coinage had left British commerce functionally dependent on private issues. Lackington's tokens circulated as genuine trade currency, not promotional novelties.