"Advertising" Halfpenny

The mules of the reverse of Lutwyche's storecard are pretty interesting! I own the following example, which uses an obverse die that links with the Regal Evasion series.

D&H Hampshire 90


It appears that at some point the continued production of underweight coppers with whatever dies were available was more important than any advertising benefit.

You've seen those ads on TV, where you can't for the life of you figure out exactly what's being advertised? Yeah, this token is kind of like that.

"Yes, you've convinced me of the quality of your products. I'd like to place an order. Who are you, exactly?"


The tokens themselves identify the personage in question, in the exergue: "Dea Pecunia", the "Goddess of Money". She is not part of the standard Roman pantheon, but a modern concoction. She holds a scale, symbolizing the people's desire for coins to contain their full weight of metal - something the token manufacturers were keen to promote themselves as doing.

Besides Justice and Commerce, she also resembles Liberalitas (generosity), who often appears on ancient Roman coins holding a coin-counting-abacus and a bag of money - such coins were often made specifically for giving away at a congiarium, a public event where the emperor proved his generosity and overall niceness by ostentatiously gave away free money to the public. Not the message a token-maker-for-profit would want to send, however...