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1/2 Penny Sussex – Brighton / Prince of Wales
| Issuer | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1794 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Draped and wigged bust of George, Prince of Wales facing right, occupying the central field. A beaded border frames the design, with the legend GEORGE PRINCE OF WALES. distributed around the periphery in Roman lettering. The portrait is rendered in a neoclassical style typical of late 18th-century English token coinage, with the forehead positioned in alignment with the letter E in PRINCE. |
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| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | GEORGE PRINCE OF WALES. |
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| Additional information |
Part of the flood of provincial copper tokens that filled Britain's small-change vacuum in the 1790s, when the Royal Mint had effectively abandoned copper coinage for decades. The shortage was acute enough that manufacturers, tradesmen, and speculators issued their own halfpennies by the millions — legally tolerated, widely circulated, and eventually suppressed by the Coinage Act of 1817.
The Brighton connection ties this piece to the town's sudden fashionability after the Prince of Wales began visiting in 1783, a patronage that transformed a modest fishing village into a resort destination within a single decade.