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

Birmingham, Charles Pye, Halfpenny, 1797, cp cypher, rev. Moneta seated right holding cornucopia of coins, bee-hive and bees at right, edge plain, 17.38g/12h (DH 223). Extremely fine with original colour, extremely rare (£250-300)

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.

36 struck. Charles Pye, engraver, directory publisher and token collector, author of Provincial Copper Coins or Tokens issued between the Years 1787 and 1796, later expanded into a second edition published in 1801. Outside the field of numismatics he is best known for his Dictionary of Ancient Geography, 1805, his Description of Modern Birmingham, 1819, and for The Stranger’s Guide to Modern Birmingham, with an account of its Public Buildings and Institutions, its Show Rooms and Manufactories, 1825. For his directories, the first of which appeared in 1787, Pye personally canvassed the area and included people free of charge; his 1797 edition had 81 pages. In 1800 he asked people to send in their names plus sixpence to be included in the directory, which was a disaster; that year’s directory contained only 12 pages of names (Longman, pp.72-3, and DNB)