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 - Skidmore's / Louis XVI and M. Antoinette
| Issuer | Skidmore, Sons |
|---|---|
| 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 | A three-quarter oblique view of a guillotine dominates the central field, rendered in fine detail with a building visible in the left background. The denomination HALFPENNY. is inscribed in raised lettering along the upper arc of the coin. The stark imagery of the guillotine serves as a direct political commentary on the executions of the French royal family, reflecting the propagandist character common among late 18th-century Conder tokens. The field is otherwise unadorned, directing full visual emphasis to the central device. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Diagonal reeding |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Skidmore's token was struck in the aftermath of the guillotine's work — Louis XVI executed in January 1793, Marie Antoinette in October of the same year. By 1795, commercial token issuers across Britain were already mining the executions for sentiment and sales, producing pieces for a public that had watched the Revolution's trajectory with a mixture of horror and fascination. Skidmore, operating out of London, issued prolifically during the 1780s–90s token boom that emerged precisely because the Royal Mint had allowed copper coinage to fall into catastrophic shortage.
Dalton & Hamer 513 places this among a cluster of Skidmore royalist-themed pieces. The pairing of the two condemned monarchs on a single token was a deliberate commercial choice, not a political act — grief sold.