1/2 Penny Middlesex - London / W. Forster

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.