The Hornsey Halfpenny

Comment by matt on January 10, 2009 at 12:39

Seems these 'tokens' were rather popular around the 1790s. Some were rather political in message;

This website explains;

The inscription "END OF PAIN" is a pun on Thomas Paine, who was hated by most Englishmen of the 1790s. The designer is suggesting that the obverse scene would in fact be a welcome end to Thomas Paine. The inscription "THE WRONGS OF MAN" is an obvious jab at Paine's book "The Rights of Man" which was published in 1791. The date on the right leaf of the book 21 January 1793 is the date that King Louis XVI of France was executed. The suggestion here is that Paine's ideas lead to the death of the King of France and would do the same for the King of England if his ideas were to gain a following there.

This token is attributed to Thomas Spence by Dalton & Hamer, however it seems most unlikely that Spence an ardent follower of Thomas Paine would have issued a token of this nature.

Comment by matt on January 10, 2009 at 12:45

Those tokens referred to as "not intended for general circulation" were issued by collectors, dealers or for use as advertising or political and social commentary. This is the case with the example below of course.

For other tokens: Those tokens referred to above as "issued for general circulation" comprise two broad types. The first type being those issued by a specific entity, generally a merchant and giving specific instructions on where it could be redeemed for legal currency. The second type were those manufactured by an entrepreneur and sold to a merchant or other entity, at a discount, for use in making change or paying employees.

Comment by StephenBln on January 10, 2009 at 12:48

I don't like the name Harringay Pound much.

I'd like to suggest we called it 'the Harringay HUGO'... in recognition of the all good work done by the creator of this site....

Without him .. we wouldn't be here..

Comment by Hugh on January 10, 2009 at 16:55

Stephen - you rascally old flatterer. But then people would disappear to the loo announcing that they were going to spend a Hugo - and we couldn't have that now, could we!

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