Trnnsaclions. 27 



the year 1787 things got so bad that there was no money 

 to pay wages, &c. In that year the Anglesey Copjjer Com- 

 pany issued copper pennies and farthings to their work-people, 

 and these were so much in demand that in the course of 

 three years they struck 300 tons of the metal. The result was 

 that other people took up the same trade, and these tokens grew 

 to an enormous extent. Ten years afterwards, in the year 1797, 

 George III. put a stop to the business by issuing a very beautiful, 

 though rtither cumbersome, twopenny piece of solid copper. 

 That put a substantial check on copper tokens, so much so that 

 they died out about the year 1800 ; and in 1802 there were only 

 two issued. In 1806 a new penny of good value came from the 

 mint. 



Mr SuUey proceeded to give particulars of some of the tokens 

 issued at the end of last century. Some were put into circula- 

 tion by towns, others by private speculators, who adorned theirs 

 with figures of noted persons such as the Prince of Wales, Earl 

 Howe, Nelson, and the Duke of Wellington, while classical 

 subjects also came within their artistic scope. Tokens were 

 likewise issued as advertisements. A celebrated London 

 dwarf, who was on exhibition, had his halfpenny ; a menagerie 

 was not behind the times with a coin on which were the 

 kangaroo, armadillo, and rhinoceros ; an acrobatic performance 

 had its suitable advertisement ; the proprietors of a great 

 lottery followed in line ; and another token was issued a.s 

 an advertisement to a stage coach establishment, with words 

 in praise of Palmer, the founder of stage coaches. Mr Sulley 

 exhibited specimens of these, and among others a Masonic 

 half-penny. A magnificent set of tokens was issued at one 

 time with representations of the principal London buildings. 

 A more remarkable set altogether were the satirical tokens. 

 One Spence, who had seen the inside of a prison five times, and 

 was three times tried for high treason, issued a notable series 

 of the kind in question, and Mr Sulley brought before the 

 meeting specimens, along with others circulated by T. Hardy, 

 tried for high treason in 1794 ; J. H. Young Erskine, the great 

 ad\ocate ; Gibb ; and the London Corresponding Society, 

 which was the means of stirring up some notable riots in the 

 English Metropolis. Such tokens, which were circulated in great 

 numbers, were, of course, issued for political objects. The French 



