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1 Penny Yorkshire / Sheffield - S. Hobson and Sons
| Issuer | S. Hobson & Sons, Button Manufacturers, Sheffield |
|---|---|
| Year | 1812 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 22.4 g |
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| Obverse description | The arms of Sheffield occupy the central field, depicting a bundle of crossed arrows bound at the centre with two hearts flanking the binding, surmounted by a displayed eagle with wings spread and a heart on its breast. The town name SHEFFIELD appears in the lower exergue in incuse lettering, inverted relative to the surrounding legend, indicating coin alignment. The encircling legend reads PAYABLE AT S. HOBSON & SON'S BUTTON MANUFACTURERS, separated by a raised border from the central device. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ONE PENNY TOKEN 1812 |
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| Additional information |
Sheffield's button trade was at its commercial peak during the Napoleonic Wars, when government contracts for military uniform buttons kept firms like Hobson & Sons flush with cash and desperate for a way to pay workers in an era of chronic small-change shortage. The Royal Mint had largely abandoned copper coinage production between 1775 and 1797, and even Boulton's subsequent Soho Mint output couldn't keep pace with industrial-town demand. Provincial manufacturers stepped in, issuing tradesman's tokens that functioned as de facto wages.
The Hobson piece is catalogued by both Withers and Davis, placing it firmly within the documented corpus of second-wave provincial tokens — those struck after the 1811 coinage shortage reignited the practice Parliament had tried to suppress a decade earlier.