1 Penny Worcestershire - Worcester/City and County

Worcester's 1811 penny token emerged from the same crisis that produced hundreds of similar provincial issues: the chronic shortage of regal copper coinage that plagued Britain through the Napoleonic Wars period, forcing municipalities and tradesmen to fill the gap themselves. Parliament had failed to authorize adequate small-denomination coinage since the 1790s issues, and commerce in provincial towns had ground toward barter without locally produced substitutes.

At roughly 27.8 grams, this is a notably heavy piece even by penny token standards — issuers often over-struck on weight to deter counterfeiting and build public trust in token currency.