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England - 1792

Hickman`s Warehouse

Obverse:

Bust of eighteenth century gentleman with flowing hair tied behind with a ribbon.

Legend:

IOHN HOWARD F.R.S.

Edge:

PAYABLE AT H. HICKMANS WAREHOUSE BIRMINGHAM.

Reverse:

The cypher H H in script capitals, 1792 above it.

Legend:

PROMISSORY. HALFPENNY. BIRMINGHAM.

Vern's Comments:

Diesinker, Mainwaring; manufacturer, Mainwaring. Five cwts. struck. Common.

This piece is superficially D&H 145, a RRR conder according to D&H. I have chosen to identify it as the much more common D&H 144 for two reasons. The first is that the obverse has pitting only near the face and coat of the bust. Since the difference between the two is a second buttonhole that makes this piece suspect as having been altered. The second reason I went more conservative was what looks like the faint end of a second buttonhole below and to the right of the first (which shows as a horizontal line).

Comments. Henry Hickman was a wholesale and retail dealer in sheet, bar, and rod iron, at No. 3 Edgebaston Street, Birmingham.

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 196

England — Warwickshire

D & H 144 — Birmingham

Bell Pg: 196

O: Bust to left. IOHN HOWARD F R S.

A. 92

R: A cypher H H. BIRMINGHAM PROMISSORY HALFPENNY 1792.

E: PAYABLE AT H. HICKMANS WAREHOUSE BIRMINGHAM.