British Trade Tokens, Tickets and Passes, Numismatic Books

18th Century, John Christian Curwen, a lithographic print after the painting by Robert Smirke, RA (Finlay p.50). Light spots of foxing, otherwise very fine; in frame ready for hanging (£40-60)

John Christian, later John Christian Curwen (1756-1828), Workington Hall, mining magnate, took in 1782 as his second wife Isabella Curwen, heiress to her father Henry Curwen (1728-78), and assumed the surname Curwen in 1790. He exploited a number of pits in the vicinity of Workington between 1790 and 1820 and issued his own tokens and paper money. As John Christian he was elected MP for Carlisle in 1786; he also founded the Workington Agricultural Society.