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Great Britain - 1813

Halesown penny

Obverse:

View of St. Mary's church.

Legend:

PENNY TOKEN • PAYABLE AT THE WORKHOUSE

Exergue:

• HALESOWEN •

Size:

37.1 mm.

Edge:

centre grained |||||||

Reverse:

A mounted yeoman with drawn sword riding left

Legend:

GOD SAVE THE KING

Exergue:

1813

Vern's Comments:

Withers:
HALESOWEN (Shropshire)
The Workhouse

748 Penny, 1813.
PENNY TOKEN • PAYABLE AT THE WORKHOUSE • HALESOWEN • view of St. Mary's church. A small H on the base line at the left.
℞ GOD SAVE THE KING a mounted yeoman with drawn sword riding left; a small H on the ground at the right; 1813 in ex.
Davis 3
Edge : centre grained ||||||| F2
37mm 26.5g Die axis ↑↑. VC
We have seen a piece countermarked R•HEATH

Davis says : The ground on which the workhouse was erected, was given by Sir Thomas Lyttelton to the parish of Halesowen for the accommodation of the poor, in 1730. The church, of Norman beginnings, is supposedly remarkable for its beautiful spire.
There were several local cavalry associations, including the Royal Worcestershire Yeomanry. Boundary changes meant that Halesowen was in Worcestershire both before and after it was in Shropshire.
The dies for this piece were engraved by Halliday.
Sharp records a variety - "as above, but from different dies". Davis says that advanced collectors had failed to find it. We haven't seen one either, though Cotton, in his catalogue, says that he had one. The Cotton collection, now in Worcester museum, however, has only one Halesowen piece, and that is 748. One may comment that Sharp was given to seeing die varieties when none existed, and the general state of preservation of most of Cotton's pieces is such that anything might have been imagined from some of them !

Halesown penny