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England - 1795

Lady Godiva halfpenny

Obverse:

Lady Godiva on horseback, left.

Legend:

PRO BONO PUBLICO

Exergue:

1795

Size:

28.4 mm.

Edge:

PAYABLE AT THE WAREHOUSE OF ROBERT REYNOLDS & CO.

Reverse:

An ancient cross. COV^Y CROSS upon its base.

Legend:

COVENTRY HALFPENNY.

Vern's Comments:

BELL N^o 11 D&H 247-249

COVENTRY Reynolds & Co. (2)
   Obverse :- Similar to Warwickshire No. 10 except that the date is 1794.
   Reverse :- View of a Gothic Cross approached by steps and enriched with statuary. The sides are ornamented with pinnacles and flags. Legend :- COVENTRY HALFPENNY In the foreground of the design and rather easily overlooked are the words COV CROSS
   Edge :- PAYABLE AT THE WAREHOUSE OF ROBERT REYNOLDS & CO X
Diesinker, unknown; manufacturer, Dobbs. One ton struck. Scarce.
There is a similar token but dated 1795 (D&H 251) which is also scarce. This is a #251.

Comments. Issued by Reynolds & Co.: Lady Godiva was the Countess of Leofric, fifth Earl of Mercia.
   The old Coventry Cross was built in the middle of the sixteenth century after the style of one at Abingdon, Berkshire. It was five feet at the base and diminished pyramidically in three storeys, being fifty-seven feet high and with eighteen niches. The canopy was adorned with statuary; the pillars, pinacles and arches were enriched with a variety of figures and with flags bearing the Arms of England, or the Rose of Lancaster; together with representations of the founder, trades, and companies. The statues included those of St. Peter, St. James the Minor, St. Christopher, St. Michael, and St. George, and Henry I, Richard I, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward III, Richard II, Henry V, and Henry VI.
   This cross occupied the site of an older one removed in 1510, which stood on the "Cross Cheaping" in the market place. In 1669 it was repaired, beautified and gilded, and it is said that it was so bright and beautiful that it was almost impossible to gaze upon it in full sunshine. On every pinnacle of the lowest storey a beast or fowl held a fan; and on the pinnacles of the second was the image of a naked boy with a target and a fan. The cross was erected through the will of Sir William Hollis, a former Lord Mayor of London. The lovely structure was allowed to fall into decay during the eighteenth century, and its remains were finally removed in 1771, more than twenty years before the issue of the token.

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 200-201

England — Warwickshire

D & H 251 — Coventry

Bell Pg: 200-201

O: As last.

A. 188

R: As No. 247.

E: PAYABLE AT THE WAREHOUSE OF ROBERT REYNOLDS & CO.

Lady Godiva halfpenny