323 



omc #ftr Copers. 



By the Rev. Edward Peacock, M.A. 



iHE old coppers, which form the subject of this article, are 

 i 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 archseologists 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- 

 cription, 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 



