Stratford - William Shakespeare Spence's Little Turnstile Halfpenny

Stratford - William Shakespeare /Genius Halfpenny

BRITISH CONDOR TOKENS

WARWICKSHIRE

1790

1796

Rare

790 Warwickshire Stratford Shakespeare Halfpenny Condor Token

OBVERSE: Bust to left. SHAKESPEARE REVERSE: A female seated holding mining
tools.
HALFPENNY 1790 EDGE: Plain (Not in collar)

CONDER tokens are named after James Conder, a trader at Ipswich, issuer and
collector of tokens, who published 1798 one of the first catalogues of tokens.
Aka

18th century trade tokens

provincial token-coinage
trade tokens
token coinage

The condor tokens of the late eighteenth century came into being
out of necessity. The British government had ceased production of
copper coinage in 1775 and light weight forgeries soon circulated in
large numbers. Many exasperated tradespeople demonstrated their
independence and commonsense by issuing small change of their
own. Much of the legitimate regal coinage was worn thin beyond
recognition. The condor tokens, in spite of being illegal, at once
became extremely popular and accepted locally as a regular medium
of exchange. Most of these tokens were of good weight and
material, equal at least to that of the genuine regal coinage.

18th Century Provincial Tokens ("Conder Tokens") (from Wikipedia)

Conder Tokens, also known as 18th Century Provincial Tokens, were first
minted In 1787 by the Parys Mining Company that mine copper ore. They
had plenty of copper, access to mints, and there was little low value
coinage to be had in Anglesey thus they began minting their own penny
and half penny tokens. Not long after, others would follow suit and begin
designing and minting their own small denomination coinage.

Copper coinage was produced sporadically from the late 17th century to
the late 18th century, sometimes not at all, for various reasons. Conder
Tokens are named after James Conder who was an early collector and
cataloged these interesting coins. They are copper coins (usually pennies
and half pennies) minted by towns, businesses, and organizations of all
types to meet a need for low denomination coinage that was not being
provided, not being minted in sufficient quantity by government, or not
making it out to the small towns. These lower denominations were needed
to pay workers and make change in an increasingly industrialized society.
Thousands of varieties of tokens were minted, many are beautiful and
intricate works of art.

Because Conder Tokens were minted independently of government, the

creators of these tokens had the freedom to make political statements,
social commentary, honour great men, ideals, great events, or just
advertise their businesses. Subjects range from Isaac Newton to Abolition
and Prisons to Mental Institutions, issuers of the coins need only have the
means and the will to mint their own coin. Most were officially payable
only in certain areas and locations but there is no doubt that copper coin
was copper coin to many at the time and they were widely circulated.