Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Penny Middlesex - London / W. Forster
| Issuer | W. Forster (London trade token issuer) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1795 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Penny (1⁄480) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Within the field, a royal crown is depicted above the date 1795, the entire central motif encircled by a wreath-like arrangement of musical notation representing the anthem 'God Save The King'. The surrounding legend reads GOD SAVE THE KING 1795 in raised Latin characters. The design is rendered in a decorative engraved style characteristic of late 18th-century English trade tokens, with the patriotic musical motif serving as an ornamental border to the central devices. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | GOD SAVE THE KING 1795 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Forster's tokens were part of the torrent of provincial copper issued during the 1787–1797 period, when chronic Royal Mint neglect of the halfpenny denomination left merchants and manufacturers to provision their own small change. By 1795 the token trade had become an industry unto itself, with diesinkers like Hancock and Kempson supplying blanks and reverse dies to any London tradesman willing to pay. DH#302 is among the more straightforwardly commercial issues — no pretension toward civic symbolism, just a merchant solving a liquidity problem.