John Gregory Hancock 9 years old token

18^th Century Token, Warwickshire, Birmingham, copper Penny, 1800, issued for Thomas Welch by Peter Kempson, male bust left in coat with four buttons, raised letter inscription around lower half, FROM A MODEL BY .I.G. HANCOCK SEN., raised border surrounding with outer raised letter legend commencing at bottom, +. THE WORK OF JOHN GREGORY HANCOCK AGED 9 YEARS., rev. inverted die axis, nine line inscription, TO / ENCOURAGE / A RARE INSTANCE / OF GENIUS / THIS / COIN WAS STRUCK / FOR T. WELCH / BIRMINGHAM / 1800, edge inscribed in raised letters, +x PENNY TOKEN PAYABLE ON DEMAND. X+X+X+X+X, weight 36.21g (D&H 24 R; Atkins 19). Toned, with a few flecks and light spots, some slight rim cud, otherwise a bold extremely fine with an imposing portrait, rare.

Provenance:

Ex Thomas Egerton Tatton, Sotheby, 6-7th November 1911, lot 142 sold for £1 to A H Baldwin.

This coin illustrated in "Coinage and Currency in Eighteenth Century Britain, The Provincial Coinage" by David W Dykes, page 342, number 384.

Child prodigy John Gregory Hancock (baptised 1792), of Birmingham, was the son of die sinker John Gregory Hancock (c.1750-1805), but seems to have pre-deceased his Father as there is no real trace of him after these prodigious token issues, the last of which are in 1800, and presumably show a bust of Thomas Welch. Supposedly only 36 pieces of this token were struck.