Pidcock's Exeter Change was a menagerie occupying the upper floor of the Exeter Exchange on the Strand — one of London's most visited curiosities before the Zoological Society rendered such private collections obsolete. Gilbert Pidcock issued these tokens not as monetary instruments but as advertising pieces, each one tied to a specific animal in his collection. The two-headed cow was among his most heavily promoted exhibits, a genuine dual-headed bovine he acquired and displayed to paying crowds throughout the 1790s.
DH#455 is one of several distinct Pidcock varieties catalogued by Dalton and Hamer, each referencing a different creature from the menagerie.
Pidcock's Exeter Change was a menagerie occupying the upper floor of the Exeter Exchange on the Strand — one of London's most visited curiosities before the Zoological Society rendered such private collections obsolete. Gilbert Pidcock issued these tokens not as monetary instruments but as advertising pieces, each one tied to a specific animal in his collection. The two-headed cow was among his most heavily promoted exhibits, a genuine dual-headed bovine he acquired and displayed to paying crowds throughout the 1790s.
DH#455 is one of several distinct Pidcock varieties catalogued by Dalton and Hamer, each referencing a different creature from the menagerie.