Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Penny Warwickshire – Wilkinson / Forge
| Issuer | John Wilkinson (Ironmaster) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1788 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Milled |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | An interior forge scene rendered in fine engraving depicting a large tilt hammer or forge press mechanism occupying the left and centre of the field, its heavy arm and bolted ironwork meticulously detailed. To the right, a stooped workman operates the forge apparatus against a background of a brick-arched furnace or wall, evoking the industrial atmosphere of Wilkinson's ironworks. The date 1788 appears in the lower exergue in large numerals. A beaded border frames the entire reverse composition. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 1788 |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
John Wilkinson issued these tokens largely out of necessity — the chronic shortage of regal copper coinage in Britain during the 1780s left industrial employers like him unable to pay weekly wages in small denominations. He ran the solution himself, commissioning Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint in Birmingham to strike them to a higher standard than anything the Royal Mint was producing at the time. Wilkinson tokens circulated across his ironworks in Broseley, Bradley, and Bilston, functioning as a de facto wage currency for thousands of workers.
Boulton's involvement matters: the relationship forged here directly informed his later contract for the 1797 Cartwheel coinage.