1/2 Penny Monmouthshire - Abergavenny / J. Powell

Powell's token was issued during the acute small-change famine of the 1790s, when the Royal Mint had effectively abandoned copper coinage for decades and provincial trade ground along on a chaotic mixture of worn regal coppers and privately struck tokens. Abergavenny, a market town serving the agricultural communities of the Monmouthshire uplands, had particular need of reliable small change on market days. Powell, operating as a wine and spirits merchant, would have required halfpennies constantly for retail transactions.

Struck almost certainly by Westley & Co. or one of the Birmingham trade minters supplying the Welsh token market in this period, DH#1 is the sole variety recorded for this issuer.