Great Britain - 1792

½ Penny Token

(D & H 8 - Nottinghamshire, Nottingham)
Obverse - Great Britain - 1792 Reverse - Great Britain - 1792
Obverse - An inscription within an oval of buds: DONALD & CO STOCKING MANUFACTURERS WHOLESALE & RETAIL.
Legend: PROMISSORY HALFPENNY PAYABLE AT NOTTING.M OR
Reverse - A bee-skep with a swarm of bees around it.
Legend: NO. 29 BULL STREET BIRMINGHAM 1792
Edge:- Plain.
Diesinker, Wyon; manufacturer, Kempson. Thirty cwts. struck. Common. A well executed and heavy piece.
 
Comments. Donald and Co. were stocking manufacturers of Nottingham and Birmingham and issued different tokens for use in each town (see Warwickshire No.6). William Lee, M.A., of Cambridge, is credited with the invention of the stocking machine in 1589. Nottingham was one of the chief centres of stocking manufacture in the country, second only to Leicester.
 
   The beehive and bees may have been a trade mark of the firm, or merely intended to refer to great activity.
 
   There are two trivial die variants, D&H 7, 8.
Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 140-141
D & H 7 - Nottingham
O: Similar, the small M nearly touches the OR and the latter touches the oval.
R:
A. 4
As before, but the flaw is still further developed especially at the IR of BIRMINGHAM.