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England - 1792

Wilkison halfpenny

Obverse:

Bust to right.

Legend:

IOHN WILKISON IRON MASTER.

Size:

29.4 mm.

Edge:

PAYABLE AT LONDON OR ANGLESEY

Reverse:

Vulcan, draped, at his forge, ship in the background.

Legend:

HALFPENNY

Exergue:

1792

Vern's Comments:

I call this the McCrea version below because Bell inexplicably ends any detailed description at #450 which includes the misspelled version of his name.

BELL N^o 5 D&H 424-430

WILLEY Wilkinson, J. (McCrea version)
   Obverse :- Bust of John Wilkinson. Similar to Shropshire No. 3.
   Reverse :- A nude figure of Vulcan seated on an anvil, and striking a piece of metal on a second anvil, with a hammer in his right hand. The metal is held with a pair of pincers in the left hand. Part of a vessel is shown in the background on the right.
Legend :- HALFPENNY. with 1790 in the exergue.
   Edge :- PAYABLE AT LONDON OR ANGLESEY
Diesinker, Hancock; manufacturer, Hancock. Three tons struck. Common.

Comments. According to Sharp the reverse design of Vulcan was copied from an antique gem engraved in Spence's Polymetis (Plate X, No. 1) with the helmet upon which the god was working in· the original, changed to the bar of iron shown on the token.
   Wilkinson's hairstyle in these later tokens is more elaborate, two extra ·rows of curls being added. Similar tokens w~re also issued in 1791 (D&H 432-438) and 1792 (D&H 448-50).
   There are about seventy-five issues of Wilkinson's tokens, and some fifty-seven forgeries. Interested readers are referred to Waters' Notes on Eighteenth Century Tokens for detailed information. Redemption of the pieces must have been difficult, as no doubt the firm would not accept counterfeits.
   Only the last of these pieces bears an indication of value, but there is no doubt that they were all used as currency, and are therefore included as Commercial Coins, though the first two do not fulfil the criteria laid down in the introduction.
   Wilkinson died in Paris in 1808 at the age of eighty, but his adventures were not over. The iron coffin kept with him was found to be too small, and he was temporally interred in Paris until another coffin arrived from England. He was buried in the grounds of his home in the Midlands, but later when this was sold he was exhumed and the coffin sent to Castlehead. On the way the party was overtaken by the tide crossing Grange-over-Sands, and the heavy coffin was lost. Later it was rescued and buried at Castlehead. When this seat was sold the coffin was again moved to Lindale Churchyard, but was not granted entry to hallowed ground in the churchyard proper. The church was eventually enlarged and the fifth resting place of this extraordinary man is now in consecrated soil.
   His vast fortune was soon dissipated in legal disputes among his three illegitimate sons.

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 147-148

England — Warwichshire

D & H 455b — Wilkison

Bell Pg: 147-148

O: Period to centre of R.

R: As last.

E: PAYABLE AT LONDON OR ANGLESEY

Wilkison halfpenny