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Some OlY Coppers. 
By the Rey, Epwarp Pracocx, M.A. 
(E=GHE old coppers, which form the subject of this article, are 
oF) B) generally known by the name of provincial halfpence, or 
Tradesmen’s tokens, and in the sixth volume of this magazine will 
be found a paper on the subject, as far as relates to the earlier 
issues of them; but as nothing is said there of the last issue, it may 
perhaps be acceptable to archeologists to have some description of 
it, especially as this coinage is now fast passing out of remembrance. 
The heading of this paper was advisedly chosen, and for this 
reason, viz., many of these coins were above the value of a half- 
penny, and many under, and so cannot fairly be termed provincial 
halfpence: neither is the term Tradesmen’s tokens an accurate des- 
eription, because many were not issued by individual tradesmen, 
but by various towns, and even villages, and even in some larger 
places, by the overseers of the poor, and managers of mines. The 
coins themselves find but little favour with coin collectors—not 
only because they are of comparatively very modern date, but also 
because in themselves they are mean and poorly executed. 

Till within the last twenty years some few of them remained in 
circulation—not because such circulation was legal, but because 
they bore such a resemblance »to the current coin of the realm 
that they passed unobserved. The halfpenny most common of 
later years, was one which bore the likeness of Brutus, but arranged 
in such a manner that a casual observer detected little or no differ- 
ence between it and one of the earlier halfpennies of George III. 
As on former occasions, these old coppers originated in the very 
scanty supply of legal money issued from the Royal Mint; and as 
some of them bear the words “by Act of Parliament,” it appears 
that this local coinage was for a time legal. 
The Anglesea penny was the first coin issued of those which 
form the subject of this paper. It bears the date of 1784, and 
was quickly succeeded by a vast quantity of similar coins, struck by 
