Francis Heath operated as a druggist in Bath during the 1790s, issuing this token amid the acute small-change famine that gripped Britain when the Royal Mint effectively abandoned copper coinage production for decades. Provincial traders across England filled the void themselves, commissioning tokens from commercial diesinkers — a practice tolerated until Parliament finally suppressed it in 1817. The Bath series is particularly well-documented, and DH#115 is among the more readily attributed pieces to a specific tradesman rather than a merchant consortium.
Francis Heath operated as a druggist in Bath during the 1790s, issuing this token amid the acute small-change famine that gripped Britain when the Royal Mint effectively abandoned copper coinage production for decades. Provincial traders across England filled the void themselves, commissioning tokens from commercial diesinkers — a practice tolerated until Parliament finally suppressed it in 1817. The Bath series is particularly well-documented, and DH#115 is among the more readily attributed pieces to a specific tradesman rather than a merchant consortium.