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1 Farthing Middlesex - Spence's / Pig
| Issuer | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1795 |
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| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
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| Reverse description | The central field bears a four-line inscription naming three radical advocates: THOS. SPENCE, SIR THOS. MORE, and THOS. PAINE, with the date 1795 below. Encircling the central inscription is the legend NOTED ADVOCATES FOR THE RIGHTS OF MAN, celebrating Enlightenment and reform thought. The reverse design is typographically arranged in the manner common to Middlesex conder tokens, with clean lettering and plain fields. The pairing of Spence, More, and Paine invokes a tradition of political radicalism spanning from the Tudor era to the late 18th century. |
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| Reverse lettering | NOTED ADVOCATES FOR THE RIGHTS OF MAN THOS SPENCE SIR THOS MORE THOS PAINE 1795 |
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| Additional information |
Thomas Spence, a radical Newcastle-born bookseller operating from a shop in London's High Holborn, used the token trade of the 1790s as a vehicle for political propaganda at a moment when conventional publishing carried genuine legal risk. The copper token boom of that decade, driven by a chronic shortage of regal small change, gave radicals, tradesmen, and satirists alike a semi-legitimate medium for circulating seditious messages — the authorities found it difficult to prosecute a coin. Spence issued hundreds of distinct varieties, many attacking landlordism and advocating common ownership of land.
DH#1117 is among his more pointed pieces. Spence was briefly imprisoned in 1794 under the suspension of Habeas Corpus.