The Collection of 18th Century Tokens formed by Dr David L Spence

Durham, Sunderland, Rowland Burdon, Denton’s Penny, 1796, view of iron bridge with two vessels passing underneath, rev. legend in eight lines within palm wreath, anglesey edge, 28.33g/7h (DH 3). Struck over an Anglesey Penny token, of which traces and the edge remain, extremely fine with much original colour, very rare (£300-400)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of 18th Century Tokens formed by Dr David L Spence.

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Collection

Provenance:
Fawcett/Litman Collection.

The single-span iron bridge over the river Wear, connecting Sunderland with Monk Wearmouth, was built to a design by Thomas Paine (1737-1809), the radical and revolutionary. Rowland Burdon, MP for Durham, laid the foundation stone on 24 September 1793 and the bridge was opened on 9 August 1796. Much of the finance for it, some £22,000, came from Burdon, a partner in the Newcastle on Tyne Bank and a director of the Berwick Bank. Following the failure of the latter in 1806 Burdon was declared bankrupt and his shares in the bridge were eventually disposed of by what became known as the Grand Sunderland Bridge lottery of 1816 (see BHM 929-930). Paine’s bridge was demolished in 1929