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1/2 Penny Warwickshire - Wilkinson / Forge
| Issuer | John Wilkinson, Ironmaster |
|---|---|
| Year | 1792 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Draped and bewigged bust of John Wilkinson facing right, occupying the central field. The peripheral legend reads IOHN WILKINSON IRON MASTER, without a period following the abbreviation R. The portrait is rendered in the neoclassical style typical of late eighteenth-century English trade token portraiture. |
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| Mintage | 1792 - DH#389 - WILLEY SNEDSHILL BERSHAM BRADLEY - 27,184 1792 - DH#389a - plain edge - |
| Additional information |
John Wilkinson issued these tokens because he had to. His ironworks at Bradley, Bilston, and Bersham employed thousands of men, and the chronic shortage of regal small change in the 1790s made paying wages a logistical nightmare. Wilkinson had already pioneered the use of the Boulton & Watt steam engine in his furnaces; commissioning Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint to strike his own copper was a characteristically direct solution.
Wilkinson tokens circulated well beyond his own workforce, accepted widely across the Black Country. The DH#389 attribution places this among the second series of his issues, distinguishable from the earlier 1787 pieces by die workmanship and edge treatment.