1795 Conder Token issued by Thomas Spence
by Larry on 06 Sep, 2011 05:48
I acquired this Conder Token just the other day.
1795 Middlesex, Spence's DH 685a. Edge reads: SPENCE ✻ DEALER ✻ IN ✻ COINS ✻ LONDON ✻
Engraver was Charles James, London.
I checked Gary Sriro's CD and found that 10 examples of this type have been sold in the world in the past 12 years or so.
Thomas Spence was a radical philosopher, author and publisher. He was also a coin dealer and issued many satirical Conder Tokens.
Spence spent time in prison for publishing Thomas Paine's Rights of Man.
Occasionally, Spence would toss halfpenny tokens from his second story window to passersby. On those days, he was quite popular, on other days, not so much.
He wrote and spoke radically, advocating that all land be owned by all men in common, with some organization proposed but essentially all for the common good. Landowners would all have to give up their land. (Good luck, Thomas Spence.)
Spence even wrote a plan for America to deal with our Indian problems, in about 1795.
This token remains in superb gEF condition, after more than 200 years in the custody of collectors and dealers.
NOTE: The backward 4 in the date on the obverse is obviously not an oversight, it has been repunched the same way. Since Spence went prison in 1794, perhaps he felt it was a bit of a backward year.
Reply #1
by BCNumismatics on 06 Sep, 2011 22:41
Very nice coin,Larry!
Have you thought about uploading photos of your Conder tokens up onto http://www.omnicoin.com ?
A lot of collectors on there would be interested in seeing them depicted.
Aidan.
Reply #2
by Larry on 05 Nov, 2011 08:21
Have considered it, but won't be uploading to that site, thanks.
1795 Middlesex, Spence's DH 685a. Edge reads: SPENCE ✻ DEALER ✻ IN ✻ COINS ✻ LONDON ✻
Engraver was Charles James, London.
I checked Gary Sriro's CD and found that 10 examples of this type have been sold in the world in the past 12 years or so.
Thomas Spence was a radical philosopher, author and publisher. He was also a coin dealer and issued many satirical Conder Tokens.
Spence spent time in prison for publishing Thomas Paine's Rights of Man.
Occasionally, Spence would toss halfpenny tokens from his second story window to passersby. On those days, he was quite popular, on other days, not so much.
He wrote and spoke radically, advocating that all land be owned by all men in common, with some organization proposed but essentially all for the common good. Landowners would all have to give up their land. (Good luck, Thomas Spence.)
Spence even wrote a plan for America to deal with our Indian problems, in about 1795.
This token remains in superb gEF condition, after more than 200 years in the custody of collectors and dealers.
NOTE: The backward 4 in the date on the obverse is obviously not an oversight, it has been repunched the same way. Since Spence went prison in 1794, perhaps he felt it was a bit of a backward year.
That is a beautiful and very rare Conder token Larry, thanks for sharing. Besides the really interesting historic associations with the Industrial Revolution and the Soho Mint, as well as the colorful personalities of Boulton and Watt, the Conder tokens have another appeal, the three distinct sides counting the edges. I wonder why American collectors have never much caught on to them with the limited exception of such pieces as the Kentucky token and the Theatre at New York piece. I hate to see Conder tokens slabbed because it prevents viewing of the edges. I have yet to see a TPG service slab that is adequate for edge-viewing! At any rate, thanks for sharing!
