Middlesex 1789 penny token D&H-177
This specimen was lot 44712 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Oklahoma City, OK, August 2025), where it sold for $168. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. Trade Tokens. Middlesex. Silver Penny Token, 1789. PCGS AU-58. National Series. Obverse: Laureate head of George III right; Reverse: Arms of London; sword and mace behind, radiant sun above. From the Sydney F. Martin Collection." This token, which we believe honors St. Pauls cathedral in London, lacks a denomination, which may have been to evade the counterfeiting laws. Later, when it became clear that the authorities would not enforce those laws against the copper tokens, then issuers were not so circumspect. Thousands of varieties exist and Conder tokens are their own collecting speciality.
Specification: copper.
Recorded Mintage: unknown.
Catalog reference: D&H-177.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2025 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Richard August Collection and the Richard Margolis Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
- Conder, James. An arrangement of Provincial Coins, tokens, and medalets issued in Great Britain, Ireland, and the colonies, within the last twenty years, from the farthing to the penny size. Ipswich: G. Jermyn, 1798.
- Dalton, Richard, and Samuel H. Hamer. The Provincial Token Coinage of the 18th Century. 1910-1917.
Links to:
- Middlesex 1788 penny token D&H-186, centenary of the Glorious Revolution
- Devonshire 1789 half penny D&H-8 king's visit to Plymouth
- Hampshire 1789 shilling token D&H-1 John Pinkerton
- Middlesex 1789 half penny token D&H-930, St. Paul's
- Wicklow 1789 half penny token D&H-51A, Cronebane
- Great Britain 1789 1/2 guinea
- 1789 guinea
- Coins and currency dated 1789