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England - 1794

Norwich halfpenny

Obverse:

View of a castle and bridge with shrubs, &c.

Legend:

NORWICH CASTLE .

Size:

28.6 mm.

Edge:

RICHARD BACON COCKEY LANE

Reverse:

A fleece.

Legend:

GOOD TIMES WILL COME.

Exergue:

MDCCXCIV.

Vern's Comments:

BELL N^o 2 D&H 13

NORWICH Bacon, R.
   Obverse :- View of Norwich castle and a smaller building to the left. A moat and trees in the foreground and part of a stone bridge and some more trees in the background on the right. Legend :- NORWICH CASTLE.
   Reverse :- The Toison d'or, or Golden Fleece. Legend :- GOOD TIMES WILL COME. MDCCXCIV.
   Edge :- RICHARD BACON COCKEY LANE
Diesinker, Wyon; manufacturer, Kempson. One ton struck. Common.

Comments. Issued by Richard Bacon, a printer, stationer, auctioneer and sworn appraiser with a business at No. 12 Cockey Lane. This piece has no promise of redemption, nor statement of value, but its quantity, one ton, precludes it being a ticket of address, nor is the design of any use as an advertisement. It is therefore included as a Commercial Coin. The workmanship and designs are excellent.
   Norwich castle dates back to feudal times, while the building to the left was the county gaol, built in 1793, the year before the issue of the token.
   Norwich is one of the oldest manufacturing towns in the country and is accredited with the manufacture of coarse woollens before the Norman Conquest: they are certainly mentioned in the reign of Henry I, and the Flemings who settled there in the time of Edward III made Norwich one of the richest towns in the kingdom. During this and the succeeding reign special protection and encouragement was given to the woollen trade and the craft of the woolcombers grew and flourished.
   In 1783, only a few years before the issue of the token, a Woolcombers' Jubilee was held in the city with a pageant of Bishop Blaze and the Golden Fleece: The procession was preceded by music and an emblem of the Toison d'or, attended by Hercules, Peace, Plenty, and the British banner with forty Argonauts on horseback. The trophy was borne on a grand palanquin by four men, followed by Orpheus; then came Jason in a phaeton drawn by four horses and attended by Castor and Pollux.
   Bishop Blaze followed in full episcopal costume, crowned with a mitre cleverly made of wool, in an open chariot drawn by six horses and attended by a chaplain, vergers, the City Standard, shepherds, shepherdesses, and several orators who delivered speeches at each street.
   Seven companies of woolcombers on foot brought up the rear, and five more on horseback; the whole procession with attendants and insignia occupying half a mile.
   The legend GOOD TIMES WILL COME refers to the defeats in the war abroad, the fear of possible invasion, the revolutionary ideas of sections of the population, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. Encouragement in any form was welcome!

Commercial Coins 1787-1804., pp. 126-128

England — Norfolk

D & H 13 — Norwich

Bell Pg: 126-128

O: Similar to last, but the period is midway between end of legend and the shrubs on the bridge.

A. 14

R: As last.

E: RICHARD BACON COCKEY LANE

12:
O: View of a castle and bridge with shrubs, &c. NORWICH CASTLE. The period touches the shrubs on the bridge.
R: A fleece. GOOD TIMES WILL COME.
MDCCXCIV.

Norwich halfpenny