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Great Britain - 1812

Warren halfpenny - (R. Warren)

Obverse:

R. Warren, bare head right.

Legend:

R · WARREN · THE INVENTOR OF JAPAN LIQUID BLACKING .

Size:

30.5 mm.

Edge:

neatly grained //////

Reverse:

A bottle inscribed N^o 14 S.^T MARTINS LANE LONDON with R.W on the stopper.

Legend:

ROBERT WARRENS . LIQUID BLACKING MANUFACTORY .

Vern's Comments:

Withers:
R Warren

837 Halfpenny, undated.
R ·WARREN · THE INVENTOR OF JAPAN LIQUID BLACKING • His bare-headed bust right.
℞ ROBERT WARRENS • LIQUID BLACKING MANUFACTORY • around a bottle inscribed N.^o 14 S^T MARTINS LANE LONDON with R-W on the stopper.
Davis (Middlesex) 63
Edge : neatly grained slash B6.
31mm 10.5g Die axis ↑→. VC

Robert Warren was a blacking manufacturer. Pigot's 1822 directory gives his address as 30 The Strand.
The product was for dressing leather in order to keep it black and supple. It was widely used throughout the country and a contemporary advert published in The Cambrian is reproduced as a footnote to 1307 below. Warren was not without imitators. Holden's Directory for 1809-11 lists 'J Warren, original manufacturer of the real japan liquid blacking, 13 Suffolk-street, Charing-cross' as well as 'Rob. Warren, liquid blacking maker, 14, St. Martins-lane, Charing-cross'. It was Samuel in his Bazaar articles (Dec. 1, 1886, p 600) who published the incorrect information that Robert Warren was the blacking manufacturer mentioned who had employed Dickens as a youth.
The dies for this token were engraved by Halliday. It was almost certainly manufactured by Thomason.

Around the same time there also appeared the following advert:

WARREN'S
Original Japan Liquid Blacking.
THIS Composition produces the most brilliant jet black ever beheld, preserves the leather, softens and prevents its cracking, is perfectly free from any nauseous smell, and will retain its virtues in any climate.
Sold wholesale by R Warren, 14 St Martin's-lane, London; and retail by T Jenkins, Printer of this Paper, and J. Edmunds, S. Jenkins, and R Bevan, ironmongers, Swansea; Rees and Morgan, Neath; J Roberts, Llanelly; J Rees, Kidwelly; South, Cardiff; Gibbs, Allen, Owen and Jardine, Haverfordwest; Reynolds, Tenby; Starbuck, Milford; and in every town in the kingdom, in stone bottles 6d. 10d 1s. 6d. and 2s. 9d. each.
Caution.- The superior qualities of the Blacking has induced several base imposters to sell spurious compositions under the above name - to prevent which, observe none are genuine unless Robert Warren is signed on the label, and 14 St. Martin's-lane is stamped on the bottle.

Similar adverts, from other' areas, obviously with different retailers listed, are to be found in other newspapers of the period.

Warren halfpenny - (R. Warren)