1/2 Penny Middlesex - Shackelton's

Middlesex conder tokens flooded British trade in the 1790s to compensate for a near-total collapse in official copper coinage — the Royal Mint had struck virtually no regal halfpennies since 1775, leaving merchants to commission their own. Shackelton's token, catalogued by Dalton & Hamer as 477, belongs to this explosion of merchant-issued copper that briefly made provincial tradesmen into de facto minters.

The spelling "Shackelton" on the token — rather than the more common "Shackleton" — is consistent across known die states for this variety.