The Bank of England issued these small silver pieces during the acute coin shortage of the Napoleonic Wars, when hoarding and melting had stripped silver from everyday commerce almost entirely. Parliament had authorised the Bank to issue token coinage in 1811 — an extraordinary concession that acknowledged the complete failure of the Royal Mint to keep pace with demand. These tokens circulated at face value by institutional fiat rather than by intrinsic metal content, a deliberately uncomfortable arrangement the Bank was eager to terminate once conditions allowed.
Production ran only across 1811 and 1812 before the programme wound down. Matthew Young engraved the dies.
The Bank of England issued these small silver pieces during the acute coin shortage of the Napoleonic Wars, when hoarding and melting had stripped silver from everyday commerce almost entirely. Parliament had authorised the Bank to issue token coinage in 1811 — an extraordinary concession that acknowledged the complete failure of the Royal Mint to keep pace with demand. These tokens circulated at face value by institutional fiat rather than by intrinsic metal content, a deliberately uncomfortable arrangement the Bank was eager to terminate once conditions allowed.
Production ran only across 1811 and 1812 before the programme wound down. Matthew Young engraved the dies.