Middlesex 1796 half penny token D&H-344

from the Stack's Bowers 2019 ANA sale, lot 22762

This specimen was lot 22762 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Chicago, August 2019), where it sold for $336. The catalog description^[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. Middlesex. James' 1/2 Penny Token, 1796. PCGS MS-64 Brown Gold Shield. Edge inscribed: SPENCE DEALER IN COINS LONDON. Perfectly detailed example. Sharply struck with lovely dark brown surfaces. Tokens of Spence are marvelously diverse, and an extensive collection could be formed of the different varieties. He was a "character" in his own time, perhaps a British equivalent to our own Lord Timothy Dexter. Lots of fun to contemplate! From the Q. David Bowers Collection."

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: copper

Catalog reference: D&H-344.

Source:

• ^[1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The August 2019 Chicago ANA Auction: World Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2019.
• 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.

Link to:

• Glamorganshire 1796 1/2 penny token D&H-4 Swansea Castle
• Herefordshire 1796 penny token D&H-2 Milton's
• Hertfordshire 1796 half penny token D&H-2 St. Albans
• Middlesex 1796 half penny token D&H-865a Spence’s. John Thelwall
• Middlesex 1796 half penny token D&H-299 Denton's
• Middlesex 1796 half penny token D&H-751 Thomas Spence
• Coins and currency dated 1796