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England - 1794

Eccleston halfpenny

Obverse:

Bust to left.

Legend:

Incuse on a broad rim: DANIEL ECCLESTON LANCASTER.

Size:

29 mm.

Edge:

PAYABLE . IN . LANCASTER . LIVERPOOL . & . MANCHESTER .

Reverse:

A ship, &c.

Legend:

Incuse on a broad rim: THE LANCASHIRE HALFPENNY 1794.

Vern's Comments:

BELL N^o 1 D&H 57

LANCASTER Eccleston, D.
   Obverse :- The bust of Daniel Eccleston. "Ponthon" on the truncation of the left shoulder.
Legend, Incuse on a raised rim :- DANIEL ECCLESTON. LANCASTER.
   Reverse :- A plough and flying shuttle in the foreground with the masts and rigging of a ship behind, her lower sails furled and apparently lying at a wharf, and beyond her stretches a bay with a hill at the extreme left.
   Legend, Incuse on a raised rim :- THE LANCASHIRE HALFPENNY 1794 In the exergue, AGRICULT. MANUFACT. & COMMERCE.
Edge :- PAYABLE. IN . LANCASTER. LIVERPOOL . & . MANCHESTER.
Struck in a collar.
Diesinker, Ponthon; manufacturer, Boulton. This is a very fine coin and is struck in the style of the later regal copper currency of 1797, executed at the same works, and known as the "Soho " coinage with a broad raised rim. Eccleston's token is exceptionally massive and fine.
Common.

Comments. Eccleston appears to have lived in Queen-street in Lancaster at the time of the issue of this token. He was an enthusiastic numismatist, and this explains his exceptionally handsome coin struck upon a new principal with a broad rim to lessen wear.
   The Lancaster Gazette of 1816 carried an obituary notice of Daniel Eccleston. It stated that he was born at Corna-row, in the Filde of Lancashire, and having passed several years in Antigua, Barbados, etc., settled in Lancaster, embarking in several trades successively as a liquor merchant, insurance broker, etc. He was a collector of coins and medals and had a large and handsome medal struck of George Washington, sending copies to the Government authorities in America, the Emperor of Russia, and other heads of state; while in 1794 he issued a quantity of halfpenny tokens bearing his effigy and name.
   In these pursuits he squandered most of his property and in the later years of his life his means of support were supposed to be very limited. He was originally a member of the Society of Friends, but was excluded by that community through his total neglect of attending their meetings. The notice stated that his death had occurred at Kidside, near Milthorp, in his 71st year.
   In the following week's issue of the same journal a notice appeared that Mr. Daniel Eccleston was not defunct, and referred the readers to an extraordinary letter from him purporting to have been written in the next world. It commenced :
"And the ladies cry, in doleful dumps,
'Daniel's dead! What's trumps?'"
   The writer then thanked the publisher whom he addressed by his surname with the prefix of "Friend," for sketching his character; but complained of several errors. He ended with the remark, "We are totally precluded from giving you poor mortals any description of this Happy Country" and dated his letter from "his habitation in Heaven, the New Jerusalem, the City of the Saints." His signature was perhaps the most remarkable part of the whole communication.
"Daniel Belteshazzar
  Fitz-William
    Caracticus
      Cadwallador
        Llewellyn
          Ap-Tudor
            Plantagenet
              ECCLESTON."
each title being on a separate line and inclining from left to right as here printed.

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 82-83

England — Lancashire

D & H 57 — Eccleston`s

Bell Pg: 82-83

O: The legend is incuse, and P0NTHON added on the bust.

A. 32

R: The legend is incuse upon a broad rim.

E: PAYABLE . IN . LANCASTER . LIVERPOOL . & . MANCHESTER .

    Daniel Eccleston-at one time a Member of the Society of Friends-the issuer of this token, is described as a Gentleman, and resided in Queen Street. He had travelled in America, and had a medal struck to perpetuate the memory of General Washington, also a Napoleon Medal.
Artist - PONTHON.    Manufacturer - BOULTON.
   The rare specimen is from dies which were hardened, but as the obverse die developed a number of fine cracks it was not polished after hardening, hence the marks on the "field." By a singular mistake, Eccleston's death was reported prematurely. The week following there appeared a "letter" which he was supposed to have written from the other world!

Eccleston halfpenny