Great Britain - c.1795

½ Penny Token

(D & H 282 - Middlesex, Ching's)
Obverse - Great Britain - 1795 Reverse - Great Britain - 1795
Obverse - A man, presumably Ching, faces left.
Outer Legend: THE BEST MEDICINE IN THE WORLD . I . CHING PATENTEE FOR WORM LOZENGES
Inner Legend: SOLD IN BOXES AT 3/6 . PACKETS 1S. AND IN SMALL PACKETS AT 6D. EACH.
Reverse - The Royal Arms.
Legend: BY EVERY PRINCIPAL MEDICINE VENDER IN THE KINGDOM. A six-pointed star as a stop.
Edge:- Milled.
Size, 27 mm
D & H 282 - Ching's
O: Bust to left. I . CHING PATENTEE FOR WORM LOZENGES THE BEST MEDICINE IN THE WORLD . SOLD IN BOXES AT 3/6 . PACKETS 1S. AND IN SMALL PACKETS AT 6D. EACH.
R: The Royal arms, supporters, crest, and motto. BY EVERY PRINCIPAL MEDICINE VENDER IN THE KINGDOM.
E:
A. 197
Milled.
 
Despite the name this is not a medallic image of an oriental gentleman. In fact, as a couple of correspondants pointed out Ching is actually a Cornish name, probably a variant of the family name King. The second correspondant was both polite and un-biased in his information writing the following:
   "John Ching was a Cornishman. 'Family Tree Magazine' (the English, not the American 'Family Tree') published an article in its July 2005 issue on the Ching family, which contained several errors and I wrote a letter of correction which was published in Nov 2005 in the same magazine and Gillian Ching of Norfolk also had a letter on the same topic in the Sept 2005 issue. These demonstrate clearly that the lozenge family were not oriental. The family has been traced back several generations beyond John in Kirkhampton, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon."
Thanks J. Sheppy!