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1 Penny Yorkshire - Sheffield / Workhouse
| Issuer | Overseers of the Poor, Sheffield Workhouse |
|---|---|
| Year | 1815 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 2.5 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A detailed three-quarter perspective view of a multi-storey Georgian brick building, identified as the Sheffield Workhouse, rendered with fine engraved brickwork and window detailing occupying the central field. The building is depicted with symmetrical fenestration across its facade and gabled roofline. The circular legend OVERSEERS OF THE POOR arcs across the upper periphery, with the date 1815 positioned in the lower exergual area. A beaded border frames the entire design. |
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| Additional information |
Sheffield's Overseers of the Poor issued these tokens in 1815 under the old Poor Law system, which made individual parishes — not any central authority — responsible for financing and administering relief. The Sheffield workhouse operated on a scale unusual for a northern industrial town of that period, reflecting the surge in destitution that followed the economic dislocation of the Napoleonic Wars. Token coinage of this type circulated internally, controlling access to goods or labor credits within the institution itself rather than functioning in open trade.
Davis 134 is not a common piece. Workhouse tokens generally survived in far smaller numbers than contemporary merchant or mileage tokens, discarded or melted once the issuing institution closed or reformed under the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act.