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

Birmingham, Henry Hickman, Halfpence, 1792 (2), both hickmans edge, single buttonhole, 12.63g/6h (DH 145), two buttonholes, 11.75g/6h (DH 144); Farthings, 1792 (3), hickmans edge, 5.81g/6h (DH 481), edge plain (2), thick flan, 5.91g/6h, thin flan, 3.70g/6h (both DH 481a) [5]. Last fine and scratched on reverse, others very fine and better, third with a little original colour and rare (£40-60)

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/Hickman Collection, additionally:
DH 144 F.W. Lincoln Collection, Glendining Auction, 12-13 February 1936, lot 330 (part) [from Baldwin]
DH 481 from Baldwin.

Henry Hickman, iron dealer, 3 Edgbaston street, recorded as a die-sinker and toolmaker in Wrightson’s triennial Birmingham directory, 1818. The Hickman farthing DH 481 is the only 18th century farthing token type to bear a lettered edge and is rarer than the standard reference suggests; conversely, the Hickman halfpenny with the single buttonhole, probably the result of a filled die rather than a die which was altered later, is very much more common than DH state (Welch, CTCJ Fall 2001, p.11)