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1/2 Penny Somerset – Bath / W. Gye
| Issuer | W. Gye (Bath, Somerset) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1794 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | The obverse displays the heraldic arms of the City of Bath — a quartered shield bearing the cross and lilies — surmounted by a mural crown and flanked by two rampant lions as supporters, all rendered in fine relief. A decorative olive branch garland frames the base of the achievement. The date 1794 appears in the lower field beneath the shield, set within a foliate wreath. The peripheral legend reads W. GYE PRINTER & STATIONER BATH, disposed around the full circumference in raised Latin capitals. The overall composition is executed in the refined neoclassical engraving style characteristic of late 18th-century English trade tokens. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | W. GYE PRINTER & STATIONER BATH 1794 |
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| Additional information |
William Gye was a Bath bookseller and printer who issued this token during the great copper token boom of the 1790s, when a chronic shortage of regal small change — caused largely by the Royal Mint's decades-long neglect of copper coinage — forced provincial tradesmen to produce their own circulating pieces. Gye's establishment on the High Street made him a natural candidate: tokens served as both functional currency and portable advertisement.
DH#33 places this among the documented Davison-Hamer varieties for Somerset, a county that generated an unusually dense concentration of tradesman's tokens given its commercial traffic through Bath's spa economy.