1/2 Penny Warwickshire - Coventry / Kempson's

Peter Kempson was one of Birmingham's most prolific token issuers of the 1790s, producing series for dozens of English towns during the years when Royal Mint output had collapsed so badly that merchants were effectively running the country's small-change supply themselves. His Coventry pieces were part of a broader county series rather than a genuine local commercial necessity — Kempson sold these to collectors as much as to tradesmen, a practice that blurs the line between tradesman's token and deliberate numismatic product.

The Coventry halfpenny sits within a known run of Kempson Warwickshire issues catalogued across multiple die marriages in Dalton & Hamer.