George III 1797 British Commercial Farthing

George III (1760-1820), British Commercial Farthing, 1797, Quarter Penny struck in copper by John Westwood Jnr., long haired laureate head right, English legend and outer toothed border surrounding, BRITISH COMMERCIAL QUARTER PENNY, rev. struck en medaille, Britannia seated left holding olive branch on cannon, date in exergue, BRITANNIA above, edge plain, weight 6.95g (Peck p.237; D&H 1150). A few tiny black carbon spots both sides, otherwise extremely fine and scarce.

These pieces, along with the Penny and Halfpenny, were once thought to be patterns for a coinage by Victorian numismatists and were listed as such with some reservation by Montagu in his Copper Coinage book, however they were later listed under the Political and Social series of tokens in Middlesex by Dalton and Hamer, and dismissed as such by Peck on page 237 of his tome. In more modern times it has been shown by Dr David Dykes in his Coinage and Currency in 18^th Century Britain publication on page 190, that these pieces were in fact produced for John Westwood Junior, one of a consortium of Birmingham manufacturers and producer of tokens. His name appears on a list of contenders for the contract for a regal coinage in 1797 for which these pieces are thought to have been put forward as his prospective design. Dr Dykes has proved that these pieces were by Westwood rather than Thomas Webb as Peck thought, as they were first recorded in print as such by Rev. Henry Christmas in his book of 1868 on the copper and billon coinage, but more so because there is a record of an attempt by Westwood to sell the dies and remaining unsold coins to Matthew Boulton in the year 1800.

Provenance:

There is an old ticket with the coin showing it was bought from "B" undoubtedly Baldwin on the 26^th October 1900, possibly the handwriting of F S Cokayne.