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1/2 Penny Norfolk – Norwich / R. Bacon
| Issuer | Richard Bacon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1794 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 9.5 g |
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| Obverse description | A scenic view of Norwich Castle dominates the left portion of the field, with a bridge depicted to the right and a stream flowing beneath; shrubs line the near bank, with the period of the legend touching the foliage at the bridge. The peripheral legend is rendered in Latin capitals within a toothed border. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain with incuse legend |
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| Additional information |
Richard Bacon was a Norwich printer and bookseller who issued these halfpenny tokens during the acute small-change shortage of the 1790s, when the Royal Mint had effectively abandoned copper coinage for over a decade. Bacon's tokens circulated locally as functional trade currency rather than advertising novelties — Norwich's textile and market economy demanded small denomination coinage that the government simply wasn't providing.
The Atkins and Dalton-Hamer references place this among the better-documented Norfolk provincial issues. Bacon continued his printing business on the London Lane premises well into the nineteenth century.