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Location: Lichfield District Council
Accession No: 1983.36.20 obv.
A copper penny known as a provincial token. The token was designed and struck by J.G. Hancock of Birmingham, and issued within Tamworth by John Harding in 1799.
Provincial tokens were coins minted by private individuals from the late 18th century in response to a chronic lack of small denomination coins in Britain. The shortage was caused by limited penny production by the Royal Mint. Multiple variations of these tokens were locally produced across Britain, which resulted in the tokens quickly becoming highly collectible.
This token was produced by John Harding in 1799. Only 48 of these tokens were produced, indicating that they were issued solely for collectors rather than general use. The token is of much higher quality than many contemporary provincial tokens, being designed by the engraver John Gregory Hancock.
John Harding himself was a wealthy calico printer and partner in the private bank "Harding, Oakes & Willington" of Tamworth.
The obverse of the token features an image of the eastern view of Tamworth castle. The castle appears on the top of a hill with a tree to the the right hand foreground. A legend above the image reads: "TAMWORTH CASTLE", with the text "EAST VIEW 1799" appearing in exergue beneath the image.
The reverse of the coin features an image of Tamworth Town Hall. Above the image runs the legend: "TOWN HALL REBUILT BY THOMAS GUY". In exergue beneath the image is the text "TAMWORTH 1701".
Running around the rim of the coin are images of the tools used in the calico printing industry. Three panels feature on the rim, containing the following text: "PENNY TOKEN PAYABLE AT / THE HOUSE OF IOHN HARDING / CALICO PRINTER TAMWORTH".
Visitors can buy the tokens and write their wishes and then toss up to the Wishing Tree at the Chinese Garden during the Lantern Festival 2012 period.
Raymond Smith ran the Greyhound Races concession at the Beach Boardwalk. He sold the concession in 1933, so these tokens were likely used in 1931-32. Raymond and his son Harold later founded Harold's Club in Reno.
19th century gaming tokens. I have seen these in museums and love the engraved designs, so I got myself a few on ebay.
The signalman at Orton Mere exchanges tokens as 73050 leaves Orton Mere on one of its last running days before overhaul.
Made from Bogdan Miguiski's "Spooky hooded statue in Prague" (flickr.com/photos/migulski/2890920184/)