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1/2 Penny Middlesex - Newgate / King and Constitution
| Issuer | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1794 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Thickness | 2 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | NEWGATE MDCCXCIV |
| Reverse description | The central device comprises two crossed palm branches surmounted by a royal crown, the whole set against a radiating glory of fine engraved lines emanating from behind the crown. Across the centre of the field, two overlapping scrolled ribbons bear the patriotic legend KING AND in the upper scroll and CONSTITUTION in the lower, the words rendered in bold raised capitals. The date 1794 appears in the exergue beneath the ribbon device. The design reflects the loyalist political sentiment prevalent during the period of the French Revolutionary Wars, and is executed with great precision consistent with the Wyon workshop's high standard of die engraving. |
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| Additional information |
This is a Middlesex tradesman's token, part of the vast private coinage that flooded Britain in the 1780s and 1790s after the Royal Mint essentially abandoned small denomination production for decades. The government's failure to supply adequate copper coinage left commerce to fend for itself, and entrepreneurs — some philanthropic, some purely profit-motivated — filled the gap with millions of privately struck pieces.
The "King and Constitution" slogan carried pointed loyalist weight in 1794, the year Britain entered the French Revolutionary Wars and domestic radical societies were being suppressed under Pitt's government. Newgate Prison as subject matter in the same year was not incidental.