Back

Scotland - 1793

Gatehouse Halfpenny

Obverse:

Crest: A Griffin segreant (apparently proper) and Motto: (on a riband above) Impero.

Legend:

GATEHOUSE HALFPENNY . with a diamond-shaped ornament between two dots.

Size:

28 mm.

Edge:

Plain.

Reverse:

The front of a large plain brick building having a bell turret and dome between two smoking chimneys, twenty-six windows, and a central entrance approached by a winding pathway.

Legend:

PAYABLE AT THE HOUSE OF THO.S SCOTT & CO. with a moneyer's rose as a stop. Below the building is 1793 between two dots.

Vern's Comments:

Diesinker, Davies; manfacturer, Waring. Thirty cwts. Struck. Good specimens are scarce.

Comments. Thomas Scott and C^o. were cotton manufacturers in Gatehouse, a village five miles from the town of Kirkcudbright. Twenty years before the issue of the token, there was only an inn on the Dumfries-Port Patrick road; at the time of its issue a village had sprung up, while two years later, in 1795, it was created a burgh with power to hold a weekly market and several fairs a year; and had a growing trade in manufactures, especially cotton.
The obverse crest is probably intended for that of the Murray family who were land owners in the county. Their crest was a griffin alient, with the motto "Impero."
The building on the reverse is a large factory, no doubt the works of the issuers.

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 254-255

Scotland — Kirkcudbrightshire

D & H 1 — GATEHOUSE

O: Crest a griffin, and motto IMPERO upon a label over it. GATEHOUSE HALFPENNY

A. 1

R: View of a large building. PAYABLE AT THE HOUSE OF THO.^S SCOTT & C.^o

E: Plain.

Gatehouse Halfpenny