British Tokens

Numismatists Tokens and Ephemera, WARWICKSHIRE, Birmingham, Edward Thomason, Proof Penny, 1811, in gilt-copper, bust left in wreath, rev. value, edge neatly grained, 18.29g/12h (W 281b; cf. DNW 66, 935). Extremely fine and extremely rare £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tokens from the Late David Griffiths Collection.

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Collection

Provenance: F. Willis Collection, Glendining Auction, 13 May 1981, lot 254 (part); W.J. Noble Collection, Noble Numismatics Pty Auction 58B (Melbourne), 7-8 July 1998, lot 1928; D.E. Litrenta Collection, Part II, DNW Auction 66, 6 July 2005, lot 934 [from R. Gladdle].

Sir Edward Thomason (1769-1849), medallist and token manufacturer, 28 Church street, was articled to Matthew Boulton in 1785. Following the death of his father, also Edward, in 1793, Thomason took over the family firm of buttonmakers, expanding the business into the manufacture of tokens, medals and, when he could obtain them, coinage contracts. The company was sold in 1835 to a firm headed by the medallist G.R. Collis and Thomason continued to work there until his retirement in 1844, when he removed to Ludlow, and later Warwick, where he died in 1849