Cubie & Paterson operated as a Glasgow drapery firm in the closing decades of the eighteenth century, issuing this token during the provincial copper shortage that gripped Britain through the 1780s and 1790s after the Royal Mint effectively ceased small denomination production. The Regal farthing had been discontinued in 1775, leaving trade entirely dependent on private and municipal tokens to keep commerce moving at the retail level.
The Withers reference places this piece within a well-documented Glasgow merchant token series, cross-referenced by both Dalton & Hamer and Atkins, suggesting it circulated widely enough to attract contemporary collector attention.
Cubie & Paterson operated as a Glasgow drapery firm in the closing decades of the eighteenth century, issuing this token during the provincial copper shortage that gripped Britain through the 1780s and 1790s after the Royal Mint effectively ceased small denomination production. The Regal farthing had been discontinued in 1775, leaving trade entirely dependent on private and municipal tokens to keep commerce moving at the retail level.
The Withers reference places this piece within a well-documented Glasgow merchant token series, cross-referenced by both Dalton & Hamer and Atkins, suggesting it circulated widely enough to attract contemporary collector attention.