Britain's 1810-1820 "Regency Era" encompassed the last decade of George III's life and reign, when the Crown was basically going broke as a consequence of its far-flung foreign military adventures on land and at sea. During that period, the Bank of England (BOE) was authorized to supply, at its own expense, a necessity or emergency coinage in the form of silver bank tokens. These were issued 1811-1816 to help meet the dire need in Britain for widely accepted "legal tender" in the absence of the "regal" coinage the Crown and government could not afford to provide.
Shown in the photos below, which can be vastly enlarged with a mouse click, are
most of my date set of these tokens. I have a few others, but they're slabbed (in MS grades), and I haven't yet got my iPhone photography and lighting skills at a level sufficient to meet that challenge. Speaking of which, apologies are in order here: none of the proof-like fields and lovely lustre and toning dripping off these tokens shows up in the photos below...entirely my bad.
The bank tokens circulated in two denominations: Three Shillings (3/-) and One Shilling Six Pence (1s 6d; 1/6d; or 18d). There was a Nine Pence pattern of the laureate head type (ESC 1478-80) struck in 1812 as well, in three varieties, but its issue was never authorized. Over the six-year span of their mintage, each denomination was issued in two types, the cuirassed or
armoured bust of 1811 and 1812, and the wreathed
laureate head of 1812-1816. The transition between the two types occurred in 1812, so both types were struck that year. Lewis Pingo is the engraver of record, at least for the obverse. The 3/- piece is 34mm in diameter and weighs in at 14.7g, while the 18d is 26mm and 7.35g.
For collectors who are so inclined, there are ten distinct varieties of the 3/- token, all of which depend on the number or orientation of leaves, acorns, and/or berries. (That count excludes some nearly unobtainable proofs and off-metal strikes in gold and platinum.) As for the 18d piece, no varieties are noted in Seaby's
The English Silver Coinage (ESC) -- just the two types across six years, for a total of seven attainable examples to complete the set. Of the tokens in this series that were issued for circulation and are thus targeted by most collectors, there is only one monster rarity: the 3/- piece of 1816. These rarely come up for sale; if I see them twice a year, that's a busy year. Currently there's a PCGS-slabbed EF-45 example available on
ebay at an odd BIN price of US $3,712.00.
Top row: 3 Shillings -- Armoured Bust, 1811 (ESC 408, Davis 47); Laureate Head, 1812 and 1814 (ESC 421 and 422, Davis 57 and 58).
Center row: 18 pence - Armoured Bust, 1811 and 1812 (ESC 969 and 970, Davis 61 and 63); Laureate Head, 1812 (ESC 971, Davis 64).
Bottom row: 18 pence -- Laureate Head, 1813-14-15-16 (ESC 976-77-78-79, Davis 65, 67-68-69).
Posted 11/15/2021 5:59 pm
